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CATHARINE OF AMGON
AND THE SOURCES OP
THE ENGLISH REFORMATION
BY
ALBERT DU BOYS
EDITED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH NOTES
• BV
CHARLOTTE M. YONGB
AUTHOR OP
"THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,"
&C., &C. ]l
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. n.
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
18, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1881.
All riijinit raerved. *
LONDON :
TRTNTED BY DUNCAN MACDONALD, BLENHEIM HOUSE,
BLENHEIM STREET, OXFORD STREET.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
PART II.
(COXTINUKD.),
CHAPTER X.
Campeggio in France — His Diplomatic Interview^th Francis I.
— Wolsey learns that Campeggio will be neither complaisant
nor corruptible — A magnificent Reception prepared for him
at London and Greenwich — His Coming is delayed by fits of
the gout — Hasty semi-official Visit of Wolsey to Campeggio ;
Long Conversation of the two Legates — Catharine's Hopes
and Fears — Private Conference of Henry VIIL with the
Legate — Visit of the two Legates to Queen Catharine ; their
Advice, and the Queen's Reply — Counsel for the Defence
given by Henry VIH. to Catharine, and the persons named
by him — Campeggio hears the Queen's Confession — The
icing's Impatience, and Fresh Conversation with Catharine
— The Unhappy Queen is worried by the numerous Bishojj^s
of Henry VIH. 's Party 1
CHAPTER XI.
Charles V.'s Letter — Mendoza's Communication with Campeggio
— Odious Official Interrogatory that the Queen m compelled
VI CONTENTS.
to Undergo — Effect produced by the Exidbition of the copy
of the Brief of Dispensation ^asserted to be False — Attempts
made at Kome and in Spain to procure the Original of this
Document — ^The Queen's Advisers persuade her to write
Herself to the Emperor to beg him to send the Original to
London — Mendoza's Opposition — The King's Speech to the
Aldermen — Moral Condition of the Court, and Increasing
Favour of Anne Boleyn — Popular Discontent . . 26
CHAPTER Xn.
Montoya, Catharine's Agent, sent to Spain — Secret Communica-
tions between the Queen and Muxetula, the Emperor's Am-
bassador to the Sovereign Pontiff — Henry VHI. sends to
Rome first Bryant and Vannes, afterwards Knight and
Benett — Strange Instructions that he gives them, and his
Recourse to the Pope's Absolute Power — His JVIiserable
Trickery against the Queen — Catharine's Touching Com-
plaints and Protestations 41
CHAPTER Xin.
Casale's Unsuccessful Attempts to accelerate the Divorce Case —
Two other English Agents, Bryant and Vannes, sent to
Rome to work in the matter of the Brief alleged to be False
— ^Their Objections refuted by the Imperial Ambassador —
Micer Mai and Cardinal Santa Croce — Wolsey's Political
Strategy finds no Favour, either at Rome or in London —
France makes Overtures to the Emperor — Clement VII. 's
Illness — Wolsey's Candidature for the Pontiff's Chair —
Clement VII. recovers, and is beset by the English Agents
— He resists them with Unconquerable Decision — He has a
Long Conference with Micer Mai, and gives a Promise that
he wiU never Assent to the Divorce — Micer Mai gives him
an Affecting Letter of Queen Catharine — Vain Complaints
of the English Ambassadors 63
CHAPTER XIV.
Official Exhibition in Spain of the Original of the Brief of Dis-
pensation, in the presence of the English Ambassadors — A
Copy of the Document is delivered to them — Wolsey changes
his Policy — He is desirous above all things to conclude the
CONTENTS. vii
Business of the Divorce — The Legates' Court is constituted,
aii<l issues Citations to both Parties — ^The Emperor's Letter
to Catharine — Doubtful Dispositions of Campeggio — He re-
ceives the Queen coldly — First Meeting of the Ecclesiastical
Court — The Parties appear — Solemn Hearing of June 21st —
The Queen throws herself at the King's Feet, and addresses
a Beautiful Protest to him against the Persecution directed
at her — Great Impression on the Audience — Catharine refuses
her Judges, appeals to the Pope, and retires — The Legates *
receive and register her Appeal, but they think it their duty
to proceed — As she refuses to appear again, they declare her
contumacious — Popular Interest on her account — Henry
VIII. 's Attitude after Catharine left the Hall . .73
CHAPTER XV.
Campeggio's Embarrassment — Henry VIII. declares that Wolsey
was not the First Suggestor of the Divorce — Appearance of
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and his Bold Address to the
Legates — General Surprise in Court, and Great Impresvsion
without — Henry VIII. 's Anger, and his Pamphlet in answer
to Fisher — His Revenge nursed for another time — Opposing
Petitions of the English and Imperial Agents before the
Pope — Campeggio's Correspondence with Rome stopped for
some time by the English Officers — Casale informs Henry
VIII. that the Pope has determined to transfer the Trial of
the Divorce Suit to Rome — At Henry's desire the two Le-
gates make another Attempt to persuade Catharine, but they
find her just as resolute — The Legates hold another Judicial
Sitting on July 23rd, and adjourn the case till after the
Vacation — Altercation of Wolsey and the Duke of Suffolk —
A Fortnight after this Last Hearing, the BuU of Revocation
was pubUshed in London 90
CHAPTER XVI.
Position assumed by Henry VIII. after the Divorce Suit was ad-
jonmed by the Legates, and its transfer to Rome — Cardinal
Wolsey out of Favour — Henry treats Wolsey and Campeggio
very differently — But the latter is arrested at Dover, and
shamefully searched — Then set at Liberty — Wolsey is dis-
graced, deprived of the Great Seal and his Temporal Digni-
viii CONTENTS.
ties — He is prosecuted criminally — His Despair— His Humble
- Supplication to Henry VIII.— Arraigned before Parliament,
he is acquitted of Treason, but afterwards condemned for a
Violation of the Statute of Prsemunire — Henry pardons him,
and only confiscates a Portion of his Wealth — He is banished
to his Diocese — The Exemplary Life he leads there — Watch-
ed, and betrayed by his Doctor, he is arrested on a charge of
High Treason — He falls iU, and dies on his Journey to Lon-
don — His Modest Funeral at Leicester — Henry loses in him
a Great Minister, and Useful restraint on his Passions . Ill
CHAPTER XVII.
Political Situation of England — Henry VIII. absorbed by his
Passion — The chief Universities of Europe desired to dehbe-
rate on the Divorce Case — Pressure exercised on those of
Oxford and Cambridge — Henry makes large Grants of
Money to Francis I. to obtain favour from the French
Universities, and especially the Sorbonne — Du Bellay and
Marshal de Montmorency themselves visit the Doctors in
Theology of Paris, and do everything they can to win them
over to Henry's side — Disorder, Riots, and Violent Disputes
between the Doctors — An Imperceptible Majority, due to
Irregular Proceedings, in favour of the Divorce — In Italy
Henry's Agents contrive to corrupt several Doctors of Bo-
logna, Ferrara, and Padua — But the Success of their Prac-
tices is not Complete — It is discovered that the Minutes have
been substituted or falsified — In Germany the Universities ex-
press themselves steadfastly against the NulUty of Catharine's
Marriage — The Imperial Ambassadors in France and Rome
protest against these Debates and the Irregularities of the
DeUberations of the Universities — Petition presented to the
Pope by some English^ Noblemen, putting forward political
and other reasons for the Divorce — Firm and Dignified Reply
in the negative from Clement VII. — Cromwell, in a confer-
ence with Reginald Pole, preaches to him the most Cynical
Machiavelism, and most Servile Complaisance to all the
King's Wishes — Courageous Attitude of Reginald Pole to-
wards the King— Henry VIII. , after a First Burst of Anger,
shows himself generous and pardons him . . . 135
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTER XVm.
Henry VIII.'s two Ministers — Doctor Gardiner ; hia Diplomatic
Talents — Sir Thomas More — His Father a Judge of the
King's Bench ; he himself a Counsel and Member of Parlia-
ment — He becomes Speaker of the House of Commons —
Cromwell, his Origin and first Adventures — In the Begin-
ning of his career he shows Hostility to the Church — Corona-
tion of Charles V. at Bologna — ^The Earl of Wiltshire, Anne
Boleyn's Father, sent as Ambassador to the Pope and the
Emperor — Cranmer goes with him as Theologian — Cold and
Haughty Reception of Charles V. — Henry loses heart, and
almost gives up Anne and returns to Catharine — Inspired by
the Boleyns, Cromwell tries a Bold Stroke — He begs a Pri-
vate Audience of Henry VIH., hardens him against every
scruple, and becomes his Evil Genius — He procures the pass-
ing of Resolutions in favour of the Divorce, and a first bUl
of the King's Spiritual Supremacy, first by Convocation, and
then by both Houses of Parliament .... 160
CHAPTER XIX.
Another Vain Attempt to Influence Catharine — Her Degradation
and Dismissal from Court — Delay demanded of the Pope by
the English Ambassadors — Continual Increase of the state of
Hostility to Rome — Cautionary Brief addressed by Clement
Vn. to Henry — Suppression of Annates by Parliament —
Proposal by Nicholas Temse in Catharine's favour — Dismissal
of Sir Thomas More — Another English Embassy to Rome —
Henry does not choose to be represented before the Court of
Consistory by an Accredited Proctor ; he sends an Excuser —
Sharp Dispute between the Imperial Ambassadors and the
English Agents — Clement VU. grants them more Delay,
and desires the Interference of Francis I. in the Business —
That King's Excellent Attitude 183
CHAPTER XX.
Du Bellay indulges Anne Boleyn's Whims — Anne made Marchio-
ness of Pembroke— Meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I.
at Boulogne ; no Lady of the French Court chooses to be
present — Secret Marriage of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn
— Cranmer is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, and ac-
X CONTENTS.
cepted by the Pope — His Consecration and Qualified Oath —
Severe Reproaches addressed to him by Pole — Bossuet's
Opinion of this Prelate 195
CHAPTER XXI.
Portrait of Clement VII., by a Venetian Ambassador — Play acted
between Henry VIH. and Cranmer — Meeting of Bishops
and Divines, and majority in Favour of the Divorce — An
Ecclesiastical Court, with Cranmer as President, pronounces
a Sentence of Divorce between Henry VIII. and Catharine
of Aragon — The same Cranmer confirms and legitimises the
Marriage contracted by the King with Anne Boleyn — Catha-
rine's Correspondence with her Daughter — Communication
of the Sentence of Divorce to Henry VIII. and Catharine —
Catharine will not renounce her title of Queen — His Protests
and Erasures — Her Moral Victory over Henry VIII. — Fisher
and More under Espial in their Retirement . . .211
CHAPTER XXII.
The Pope annuls the Sentence of Divorce, and threatens Henry
with Excommunication — Guillaume du Bellay de Langey,
French Ambassador in England — Cardinal de Tournon,
Ambassador at Rome — Norfolk and the English Ambassadors
in France — They endeavour to separate France from Rome,
and Norfolk advises Francis I. to nominate a Galilean Patri-
arch — NorfoUc accuses Francis I.'s Domestic Policy of weak-
ness in respect of the Roman Court — Interview of Clement
VII. and Francis I. at Marseilles — Improper Behaviour of
the English Ambassadors present — Conciliatory Mission of
Bishop Jean du Bellay to England and Italy — Well received
by Henry Vni., he afterwards goes to Rome — He sends a
Dispatch to the King of England — Notwithstanding the
Promises made to Du Bellay, Henry VIII. continues his
Aggressions against the Romish Church — Sentence given
almost unanimously by the Consistory of Cardinals in favour
of the Validity of Catharine's Marriage, and Bull of the
Pope to the same Effect— The answer to Du BeUay's Dis-
patch arrives two days after the Sentence of the Consistory —
But this Reply could not be of Consequence — While the
Cardinals are stiU deliberating, the Anglican Church is
CONTENTS. XI
being constituted — Henry VIII.'s Condemnation had become
Necessary — Clement VII. had pushed his Temporisings, Con-
cessions, and Tenderness to the last Extremity . . 221
CHAPTER XXin.
I. Henry VIH. gradually becomes a Persecutor — A vehement
Sermon of a Franciscan Friar of the Observance, before the
King, comparing him to Ahab — Next day Henry sends his
Chaplain to the Monastery of the Observants — The Chaplain
having been badly received, the Privy Council summon the
Prior before them, and condemn him and the Preacher to
banishment — All the Monks of the Monastery are soon after-
wards condemned to the same Punishment — Singular Fulfil-
ment, at least to a certain amount, of the Prophecy made to
the modem Ahab.
n. Father Forest and his Correspondence with Catharine — The
Predictions of the ecstatic Elizabeth Barton — Fisher's and
More's Communications v/ith her are politically Incriminated
— Fisher prosecuted and made to apologise — More guiltless
on this occasion — Interrogatory and Answers of Sir Thomas
More — Fisher and More committed to the Tower for not
taking the Oath of Succession — Their property is Confis-
cated, and they are kept in Prison — Spiritual Supremacy of
the King proclaimed all over England — Fisher and More
refuse to swear to this act of Supremacy — Condemnation,
Execution, and heroic Behaviour of Fisher — Trial, Defence,
and Condemnation of More — His Firmness and Death —
Indignation in the Political and Learned World of Euro^Je —
Execution of several Clergymen 247
CHAPTER XXIV.
Pretended Conspiracy of Catharine — Visit of two Bishops or
Commissioners of Henry to Bugden — Requirement of the
Oath — Resistance of Catharine and her Servants — Arrest of
her two Chaplains — Touching Letter to the King — She only
obtains a Portion of her Request — She objects to residing at
Fotheringay, and prefers Kimbolton — Her Distress and Tears
— A Labourer's Generosity — Catharine's Letter to Father
Forrest — His Answer — Henry VIII.'s Commissioners . 265
•Kll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
I. Letter sent by Catharine from Kimbolton to Henry VIII. —
Her last Illness — Visit of her early Friend, Lady Willoughby
— Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador, obtains an
Audience of the Queen — Her last Wishes — Henry VIII, does
not respect Them, or pay her Legacies — He puts on Mourn-
ing for Catharine, as his Sister-in-law — Anne Boleyn refuses
to wear it.
II. Portrait of Catharine— Justice done to her Character by
Shakespeare — Appreciation of M. Rio . . . 275
CHAPTER XXVI.
Salutary Fear and wise Reflections of Anne Boleyn — Beginning
of Conversion — This Conversion is only Superficial — She
becomes jealous of Jane Seymour — A Violent Scene with the
King, and the Consequences — Coolness and Jealousy of
Henry VHI. — He appoints a Commission of Inquiry — The
Tournament at Greenwich ; great Imprudence of Anne
Boleyn — Her Arrest — Her father and uncle among the
Commissioners, but her father only sits on the Trial of the
supposed Accomplices — He is excused when Anne is brought
to the Bar — Anne's uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, presides
over the High Court that finds her guilty, and he gives
Sentence — Anne B61eyn shows proofs of Piety and Repent-
ance — Her Spirit rises at the prospect and moment of Death
—Indecent Joy of Henry VIII 285
CHAPTER XXVII.
I. Spiritual Supremacy of Henry VIII. — Correspondence of
Starkey and Reginald Pole.
II. Immediate Consequences of the Bill of Supremacy — Spolia-
tion of the Monasteries, and Distribution of their Property
to the Nobles or Gentry of the Counties, to Win them over
to the new Schism— Use of Terror to Intimidate the Court
Nobles — Popular Rebellion stifled in Blood, after Lying
Promises of Amnesty — Pauperism and Vagrancy repressed
by hard and cruel Penal Laws.
III. Political Consequences of the Bill of Supremacy — Religious
Consequences, and Possibility of the Return of an Anti-
Christian Imperialism 305
CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
PART II.
(coNmrcKD.)
CHAPTER X.
Campeggio in France — His Diplomatic Interview with
Francis I. — Wolsey learns that Campegn;io will be neither
complaisant nor corruptible — A magnificent Reception
prepared for him at London and Greenwich — His Coming
is delayed by fits of the gout — Hasty semi-official Visit
of "Wolsey to Campeggio ; Long Conversation of the two
Legates — Catharine's Hopes and Fears — Private conference
of Henry VIII. with the Legate — Visit of the two Legates
to Queen Catharine; their Advice, and the Queen's Reply
— Counsel for the Defence given by Henry VIH. to
Catharine, and the persons named by him — Campeggio
hears the Queen's Confession — The King's Impatience,
and Fresh Conversation with Catharine — The unhappy
Queen is worried by the numerous Bishops of Henry
Vin.'s Party.
CARDINAL CAMPEGGIO had received his com-
mission in Italy during the month of April. He
had been delayed at Rome, as he had to re-furuish
his house, and to procure a suite befitting his dig-
VOL. II. B
2 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
nity, as all his moveables had been plundered, and
he did not start till the month of June. He was
further delayed by fits of the gout and various acci-
dents, and only reached Lyons on August 22nd. He
started again on the 30th with some fresh resources
that were to make his journey more speedy and
convenient. Clerk, the English ambassador at the
French Court, sent a very fine mule, with splendid
housings, and four carriage mules, as far as Orleans
to meet Campeggio ; Clerk had borrowed them, but
he had added twenty horses of his own, and ten that
belonged to the Master of the Rolls. Sir Francis
Bryant had been waiting for the cardinal in that
city since the 24th, and was to escort him to Calais
with several horsemen and a certain number of
lances.
Thus it was the beginning of September when
Cardinal Campeggio made his entry into Paris.
Fifteen or sixteen archbishops or bishops, and person-
ages of the highest distinction, were to come and
meet him beyond the gates of the capital. But,
wearied with the journey, sufiering from the gout,
and hardly able to sit his mule, he arrived a little
sooner than he was expected, to escape the crowd
and avoid the honours of the reception prepared for
him. However, as soon as he was within Paris, he
met Francis I., who received him with expressions of
the deepest respect. Then the king conducted the
legate to his lodging ; they were seen together at a
window talking for two hours.
FRANCIS I. AND CAMPEGGIO. 8
The subject of this long conversation was the suit
of Henry VIII. The King of France was not ac-
quainted with all the particulars. " His majesty in-
quired," writes Campeggio to Sanga. " I replied
that I was one of the judges deputed, and that the
sentence depended on the evidence ; but it was im-
possible as yet to say what determination would be
taken, except that there would be no lack of justice.
I added, * What is your majesty's opinion V He an-
swered that he was not learned, and in such cases
he would adopt the opinion of anyone who under-
stood more about it than himself, though he regarded
the king, his brother, as a wise and good man, and
believed that, when he knows that the queen is his
lawful wife, he will not attempt any such thing (as
a divorce) ; but, if she were not, it would be a great
matter to persist in a sin which involved the salva-
tion of his soul." *
The two speakers treated one another with diplo-
matic reserve. Yet a report prevailed at the French
Court that Campeggio, in accordance with the pope's
present policy, would be more inclined to the em-
peror's side than was supposed ; that he would be
tmfavourable to the divorce, and that his mission
was especially to change Henry VIII.'s ideas and
intentions in this matter if possible. Lastly, that, if
he could not reconcile the king and queen, he was
not to proceed to judgment without fresh instruc-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 2061.
B 2
4 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tions from the pope. These public reports reached
Wolsey from France, or from Rome, where hi»
agents, the Casali and Stafileo, Dean of La Rot.a»
watched everything, and kept him informed of all
they could learn. Thus the English statesman's
anxieties were more keen than ever. He plainly
saw that in Campeggio he would find neither a
docile instrument nor even a complaisant colleague.
On the contrary, the Roman cardinal, in making
communication to him of the plan he intended to
pursue, took in some respects the first place, and
assumed what may be called the directing authority.
Besides, he seemed to prefer to continue his journey
by short stages, and cared not for Wolsey's efibrts to
hasten his arrival in London as much as possible.
Lastly, they were much surprised when Clerk, hav-
ing been commissioned by his master to offer to
Campeggio a liberal payment of the expenses of his
journey, the cardinal returned a firm and dignified
refusal of the sum of money offered to him, and only
received the horses and mules necessary for his
journey.*
This unusual specimen of independence shown by
a member of the Court of Rome seemed very extra-
ordinary to the English ministers, and made them
suppose that Campeggio had promised the pope to
preserve his independence, so as to be able to give
an impartial sentence in the suit.
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 2054 ; and
Introduction, p. ccccii.
henry's confidence. 5
But Campeggio was Bishop of Salisbury, and
Henry VIII. thought he would be kept in check by the
use of this ecclesiastical benefice as a curb. The king
made so sure of winning his cause that he thought
he had no further cause for restraint. He had splen-
did apartments ready for Anne Boleyn in one of
the houses at Greenwich about the time that Cam-
peggio was to land in England ; for, in a letter of
September, 1 528, he writes, " The legate which we
most desire arrived at Paris on Sunday or Monday
(September 14th) last past, so that I trust by the
next Monday to hear of his arrival at Calais, and
then I trust, within a while after, to enjoy that
which I have bo longed for, to God's pleasure, and
our both comfort." *
It seems that she accepted this accommodation, but
soon went away again to her father's house, as the
king feared that her presence at Court might pro-
duce a bad impression on Campeggio just as he
arrived.f
Clerk returned to the charge, and begged Cam-
peggio to accept at least seven or eight hundred
crowns to clear his expenses. Campeggio persisted
in an absolute refusal, saying he had all he wanted.
Though Anne Boleyn had princely rooms in Green-
wich palace, the king continued to live in the same
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, voL iv, pt. ii, p. 2057.
t A letter of Mendoza's to the Archduchess Margaret, queen of
the Low Countries. State Papers, Calendar, voL iv, p. 784.
6 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
apartments as Catharine, eat at the same table, and
seemed to live a united life with her ; persons, in-
deed, seemed to fancy that the queen had recovered
the good humour and cheerfulness of former days.
And yet she was subjected to the most iniquitous
espial : the English counsel given her had been in-
structed beforehand. They were prompted to dis-
courage their royal client in her opposition ; to
make her fancy that her perseverance would disgust
the Holy Father and all Christian people, and that
she would be blamed for having preferred her per-
sonal affection to the submission she owed to the
law and the church. This was not all : attempts
were made at the same time to persuade the sove-
reigns of the Continent, and Charles V. himself, that
the queen agreed to the suit, and was quite ready to
acquiesce in the legates' judgment. It was said that
she had been made to promise not to write to the
emperor without informing the king; and it was
supposed effectual means had been taken to prevent
her having any communication either with Charles
V. or with the sovereign pontiff. Thus were the
approaches for Campeggio's daily-expected mission
astutely prepared.
But the Roman legate's progress seemed to be the
more retarded the nearer he drew to the termination
of his journey. He left Paris on September 18th, and
had allowed a week for his journey to Calais. He
had been carried all the way in a litter, and was so
CAMPEQGIO'S ILLNESS. 7
grievously tormented by the gout that, when he tried
to mount on horseback for his entrance into the
city, his hands could not hold the bridle nor his feet
keep the stirrups. Either on account of his illness,
or because of a violent storm, he could not leave
Calais till the 29th. On the 1st of October he arrived
at Canterbury and had a splendid reception. His
entry into London was fixed for the morning of
October 8th. But an attack of the gout, more violent
than any he had before experienced, made his journey
impossible, even in a litter, and he was obliged to
stop in the suburb, where he was received and enter-
tained by the Duke of Suffolk, who had a house there.
He was detained there all the next day by his suffer-
ings, and the morning after Wolsey sent a barge for
him, and he was carried by the Thames without
state, and quite incognito, to his lodging in Bath
House. He says :
" I have remained there all this present time (i.e.,
until the 17th of October), and am confined to my
bed, my agony being greater than usual, owing to the
journey. I do not know when I shall be sufficiently
free from pain to be able to visit the king. The day
following Wolsey came to see me. I had believed
and hoped that he would not discuss any business
with me ; but he entered immediately into the cause
of my coming. He showed me that, in order to
maintain an increasing authority of the Holy See, he
had done his utmost to persuade the king to apply
8 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
for a legate, in order to remove the scruple which he
had on his conscience, although many of the prelates
in this kingdom had declared that such a course was
unnecessary."*
Wolsey had understood that, if Rome were not
represented by a member of the curia in judging the
divorce suit, the dissolution of the marriage would
be attributed to him alone, and he did not feel strong
enough to bear singly the load of such a responsi-
bility.
Besides, he thought he had a right to expect some
credit from the Court of Rome for having had re-
course to that authority in constituting the ecclesi-
astical tribunal for trying the divorce suit in England,
and for persuading the king to remain united to
Catharine until there was a regular sentence of
separation.
In this same conference Wolsey told Campeggio
that if the legates resisted the king's demand, which
was founded upon the most worthy motives, the
advice and writings of learned and religious men,
the entire destruction of the influence of the Church
in the kingdom of England would be the consequence.
" As I am still confined to my bed," writes Cam-
peggio, " his lordship came three or four times to visit
me. We have debated the question three or four
hours together; but though, in the pope's name, I
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccvii,
and pt. ii, p. 2099.
CAMPEGQIO'S LETTERS. 9
have endeavoured to bring over the mind of his
majesty, and reconcile him to the queen, I have had
no more success in persuading the cardinal than if I
had spoken to a rock. His objections are founded on
the invalidity of the marriage, the instability of the
realm, and the succession ; and they are so wedded
to this opinion that they not only solicit my com-
pliance with them, but the expediency of this busi-
ness with all possible despatch. Thus I find myself
in great straits, with a heavy burden on my shoul-
ders; nor do I see how judgment can be deferred
even for a brief space. They will endure no pro-
crastination, alleging that the affairs of the kingdom
are at a standstill, and that if the cause remains un-
determined it will give rise to infinite and imminent
perils."*
What was going on at Henry VHI.'s Court while
the cardinals were having these interesting con-
ferences? Although Anne Boleyn had gone away
for the time,t the king and she looked upon their
future union as just as certain as if the marriage with
the queen had already been dissolved. Indeed it
seemed that some secret preparations had been made
for this second marriage.
Yet Catharine had some hope left. Although very
closely watched, it seems that she had been able to
see the ambassador Mendoza, who had come to her
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccviii.
t Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 709.
10 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
secretly, and wlio thought that he had reason to
believe that Cardinal Carapeggio had not brought
full powers to give a final judgment, but that his
mission only was to "watch what was going oa
here," consult public opinion, examine witnesses, etc.,
and then take the result of his inquiries back to
Rome. Catharine likewise thought that the pope
would do all he could to delay his decision ; and
she was mistaken in supposing that Wolsey himself
would be quite inclined to act by Campeggio's ad-
vice, and would willingly accede to this sort of plan
of the campaign. " It is true," she added, " that he '^
would do this from his fear of the lady Anne, and
not from any good motive." *
In the same letter Mendoza, while acknowledging
the receipt from the emperor of a copy of the brief of
dispensation of Julius IL, which had lately been
sent him from Spain, requests an attested copy of
the same brief, and in this gives proof of a wise
foresight, as will appear below.
A few days afterwards the unhappy queen passed
from hope to fear. Mendoza writes to the emperor,
telling him, " The queen wrote yesterday to say she
had heard that this new legate brought powers and
mandates very detrimental to her and to her rights ;
which powers she says have been obtained from the
* Mendoza says this. (Ed.) Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii,
p 790.
CAMPEGGIO'S POWERS. 11
pope under false pretences."* In this the queen
was pretty nearly right. Such powers had indeed
been given to Campeggio, but on condition that he
should not let anyone know of the brief containing
them before he had made an examination on the
spot, and inquired whether, as the pope had been
told, popular feeling in Great Britain were favour-
able to the divorce, and whether the queen was
disposed to make concessions or to acquiesce in the
king's wishes. It was even asserted at Kome that
Charles V. was quite ready to consent to Catharine's
repudiation. Campeggio was soon to receive a letter
from the emperor to put him on his guard against
this invention and diplomatic lie, as well as all the
other equally unfounded statements that it was
thought possible might have been added.
The queen also complained to Mendoza of the
conduct of several bishops and doctors, who, after
making formal declaration in her favour, had yielded
to intimidation and bribery, and had deserted her
cause. She even cast doubts upon the firmness and
sincerity of the English counsel who had been assign-
ed her. She had especially wished to have a Span-
ish lawyer at her disposal, or, failing him, and for
the sake of greater speed, some Flemish canonists,
or men of law. She said she would trust to the
emperor's choice and to his good advice. She had
been told that his majesty would write an urgent
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 803.
12 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
letter in her favour, and she sent her thanks to him,
and told him that his powerful support was her chief
consolation in her sufferings and anxieties. She
asked for the intervention of the Kings of Hungary
and Portugal in addition to the emperor's, to miti-
gate the effect of Henry VHI.'s manoeuvres upon the
Court of Rome.
Notwithstanding the defection of many of her
former partisans, and the influences that beset her
on every side, the queen continued to be firm and
■energetic, always resolute in her valiant defence of
her own honour and her daughter's legitimacy.*
The emperor had named as counsel for the queen's
defence the canonist Micer Miguel Mai, who could
not reach England in time, for what reason is
unknown.
Henry VIH. did not let Campeggio rest. The
unhappy legate could neither walk nor ride, and
could hardly sit in a chair when his majesty told him
that he should have his audience on the 22nd of
October following, at Blackfriars. This palace was
near the cardinal's lodging, and had been specially
chosen to spare him fatigue. The king welcomed
him in friendly and affectionate manner. In the
hall, where he was received, were assembled the
princes of the blood, the chief noblemen of the king-
dom, the leading English bishops, and the various
* ThesameletterofMendoza, September, 30th, 1628. Gayangos,
Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 804.
AUDIENCE OF THE KING. 1^
ambassadors, with the exception of Mendoza, who
had not been invited to this meeting. Campeggio
says, " My friend Florian made an appropriate
speech, and was attentively heard. When he al-
luded to the calamities of Italy and Rome all were
moved to tears. Doctor Fox made an eloquent
reply."*
In all this there was no discussion of the divorce,
it had not even been mentioned. It seemed as if
Campeggio's mission to England had been intended
merely as an attempt to re-establish peace between
the Christian princes ; indeed this was the ostensible
object. But when the formal orations had been
spoken, and the public ceremonial came to an end,
the king drew the two legates into his private cham-
ber. Then it was supposed that Campeggio gave
him a letter from the Holy Father that was read on
the spot, and he seemed much gratified at his holi-
ness's expressions of good will.f
Next day, after dinner, Henry went to visit Cardi-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccx.
Mendoza tells the emperor, " Another orator replied on the
king's side, laying much more stress still on the damage done at
Rome by the imperial troops. He went on to say how hard the
king had worked to make peace between his imperial majesty and
the King of France. To this end he had allied himself to the
party which appeared to him to have most right on its side, in
order the better to resist the encroachments and ambition of the
tyrant." Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 840.
t Mendoza, "as is generally supposed, the Legate Campeggio
delivered his secret credentials to the king." (Ed.)
14 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
nal Campeggio in private; the conversation lasted
three or four hours. First the cardinal exhorted him
to reflect maturely before applying for the dissolution
of his marriage, and told him that, if his scruples
were respecting the invalidity of the dispensation, a
more regular one could easily be obtained. Henry
patiently listened to all Campeggio had to say, and
made him an answer evidently prepared beforehand,
making use of all the arguments Wolsey had be-
fore urged upon his colleague. He asserted that
Pope Julius II.'s dispensation was contrary to divine
right, and that, if it were not so, there were many
other reasons against the validity of the document.
His majesty seemed to Campeggio to be specially
conversant with this theological question, like a pro-
fessed canonist. The cardinal wrote in round terms
to Sanga, his correspondent at Rome, " and I believe
if an angel descended from heaven, he would not be
able to persuade his majesty to the contrary."
After the discussion on law, Campeggio offered, as
a mean term, to do all he could to persuade the
queen to enter a religious house. This greatly
pleased Henry, and the cardinal says, " There are
strong reasons for it, as he has ceased for two years
from cohabiting with her, and will not return to her
whatever the result may be."
The king added that in all other matters he would
be ready to make any possible concessions, and, as an
instance, he would engage to confirm the Princess
THE pope's intentions. 15
Mary's succession to the crown, in default of male
issue bj another marriage. He promised to go and
speak to the queen as soon as possible, with the
Cardinal of York.
In the interval Campeggio endeavoured to shake
Wolsey's resolution, exhibiting to him the dangers
that might result from the emperor's resentment.
Wolsey answ^ered that Catharine might be treated
with such consideration, even while she was made to
lose her suit, as to give no excuse for her relations
to be angry, and that the emperor would not embark
in an arduous war against England for such a reason,
when he had peaceably acquiesced in the expulsion
from their kingdoms of his two sisters, the Queens of
Hungary and Denmark. Then Campeggio fell back
upon the pope's intentions. He represented that he
was bound to make His Holiness acquainted with his
opinion in this matter, and wait for further instruc-
tions before giving judgment. Then Wolsey cried
out, with great marks of ill-humour, " Si sic est,
nolo negociari vobiscum sine potestate, neque sic
agitur cum rege." Campeggio writes to his corre-
spondent Sanga, " that he does not see how it is
possible to persevere in this course, as the pope
had desired him. They are so determined and en-
grossed by their own opinion that it is impossible to
shake them. In my last conversation with his lord-
ship, he said, and repeated it many times in Latin,
' Most reverend lord, beAvare lest in like manner as the
16 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
greater part of Germany, owing to the harshness and
severity of a certain cardinal, has become estranged
from the Apostolic See and the faith, it should be
said that another cardinal has given the same occa-
sion to England with the same result.' He often
impresses on me that if the divorce be not granted
the authority of the Apostolic See in this kingdom
will be at an end ; and he certainly proves himself
very zealous for its preservation, for he has done, and
is still doing for it, very great services, because all
his grandeur is connected with it."
In this state of feeling the legates proceeded to
visit the queen.
"Taking leave of his majesty/' continues Cam-
peggio, " the cardinal and I repaired to the queen,
with whom we conversed alone, about two hours.
After our greetings, I gave her the pope's letter,
which she received and read with good cheer. She
then inquired what I had to say to her. I began by
telling her that, as the pope could not refuse justice
to anyone who demanded it, he had sent the Cardinal
of York and myself to examine the state of the ques-
tion between her highness and the king ; but as the
matter was very important, and full of difficulty. His
Holiness in consideration of his patei*nal office, and
of the love which he bore her, counselled her, confid-
ing much in her prudence, that, rather than press it
to trial, she should herself take some other course^
which would give general satisfaction and greatly
INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN. 17
benefit herself. I said no more, in order to discover
what she would demand. The Cardinal of York
followed to the same effect, as far as I could under-
stand, for he spoke chiefly in English.
" Her majesty replied ' that she knew the sincerity
of her own conscience, and was resolved to die in the
Faith, and in obedience to God and His Holy Church ;
that she wished to unburden her conscience to our
lord (the pope) ; and for the present she would give
no other reply, as she intended to demand counsel-
lors of the king, her lord and consort, and then she
would bear and answer us.' She added that she had
heard we were to induce her to enter some religion.
I did not deny it, and strove to persuade her that it
rested with her, and by doing this she would pre-
serve her dignities and temporal goods, and secure
the succession of her daughter ; that she would lose
nothing, for she had lost la persona del re already, and
would not recover it. She should, therefore, rather
yield to his displeasure than submit her cause to the
hazard of a sentence — considering, if judgment went
against her, how great would be her grief and trou-
ble, and how much the ruin of her reputation. The
dowry would be forfeited, and how great would be
the scandal and enmity that would ensue. On the
other hand, if she complied, she would retain her
dower, the guardianship of the princess, her rank,
and whatever else she chose to demand, and would
neither offend God nor her conscience. I enforced
VOL. II. C
18 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
these arguments by the example of a Queen of
France who did the same, and is still honoured by
God and that kingdom. The same arguments were
enforced by the Cardinal of York, who begged her
to ponder them well, and hoped she would resolve
for the best. Then he ventured to mention Henry's
conscientious scruples to her, to be taken into
account. That, since her highness had already
reached the third and last period of natural life, and
had spent the first two setting a good example (of
virtue) to the world, she would thus put a seal to all
the good actions of her life, and would, besides, pre-
vent, by such religious profession, the many and
incalculable evils likely to arise from such matri-
monial discord."
The queen at first showed a little irritation at
these words, and spoke quite angrily to the
resident legate (Wolsey), hinting that he was the
cause of all her misfortunes ; but after some time she
grew calm, and said to Campeggio, with great com-
posure, " that she held her husband's conscience and
honour in more esteem than anything else in this
world, that she entertained no scruple at all about
her marriage, but considered herself the true and
legitimate wife of the king her husband, that the
proposal just made in the name of His Holiness was
inadmissible. She knew for certain that if His Holi-
ness, instead of listening to the arguments and
suggestions of her enemies, had heard what she had
MORE ILLNESS. 19
to say in her defence, such a proposal would never
have been made. She was, however, so dutiful a
daughter of the church that nothing would make her
swerve from the path of obedience. So we left her,
assuring us that she would make known to our lord
(the pope) the sincerity of her conscience. To this I
replied that I had been sent by the pope to hear
whatever she chose to explain to me, and 1 would
faithfully report to him my opinion, and by his reply
she would learn that I had done my duty sincerely.
She concluded the conference by saying she was a
lone woman and a stranger, without friend or ad-
viser, and intended to ask the king for counsellors,
when she would give us audience." *
Campeggio was greatly affected by this firm and
noble language. The illnesses of the unhappy cardi-
nal were a continually renewed obstacle to the speedy
settlement of the suit. When he returned from his
audience of the queen, he was seized with a violent
6t of gout in the knee, and could not move without
excruciating pain. Surrounded with great books of
theology and canon law, besieged by the doctors'
visits, bringing him their proofs and authorities,
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccocxiv,
pt. ii, p. 2101. Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 439, 441.
We have fused together Campeggio's account and Mendoza's, from
his letter to the emperor, Nov. 18, 1528. Iklendoza was not present,
but he was informed of all that took place either by the two
legates or by the queen herself. Campeggio perhaps designedly
omits some of the particulars.
o2
20 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
worried by incessant importunity, receiving repeated
instructions from the pope, with continual orders to
try to gain time, and on no account to exceed the
limits of his commission, the legate Campeggio could
not get a moment's rest, either of mind or body.
Everyone engaged in the business with him was too
absolutely engrossed in it to have any regard for his
cruel sufferings.
He learnt from Wolsey that there had been an
interview between the king and queen, and that his
majesty had named as her counsel the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and the Bishops of London and Bath,
and to them was afterwards added Doctor Standish,
the Bishop of Saint Asaph. The king did not wish
her to send for another lawyer from Spain, but he
allowed her to have a proctor and another advocate
from Flanders, and he also authorised her to continue
to see a Spaniard who was in London, and was named
Vives. Campeggio had a private interview with
Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, whom he knew to be
high in the queen's favour and confidence. He was
satisfied with these good arrangements.*
Soon after a remarkable incident took place ; the
queen, with the king's permission, requested Cam-
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. i, p. 2108. Some
writers say that, in addition to these counsel, was the queen's own
confessor, Father Forest, and the Bishop of Rochester, the pious
and valiant Fisher. Other historians state that Catharine no doubt
consulted these two venerable men, but that they were not on the
list of counsel named by the king.
CONFIDENTIAL CONFERENCE. 21
pegp^o to hear her confess, and the legate thought
he ought not to refuse. While Catharine found in
this the means of quieting her conscience, her inten-
tion was to inform the cardinal legate, who was to
be her judge as well as confessor, of several of the
details of her private life that he could not have
suspected. She wanted to lay bare her whole soul
before him. It was the best way — she saw it in-
stinctively — to gain and keep his confidence. At
the end she released him from the absolute secrecy
that should have enfolded the information of the
confessional, and, indeed, formally requested him to
communicate it to the sovereign pontiff.
The precise information she gave concerning her
former marriage could leave no doubt upon Cam-
peggio's mind as to the nature of her relations with
Prince Arthur.
At the end of this confidential conference she in-
sisted that everything should be judicially decided,
and she assured Campeggio that, if a legal and final
decision were given annulling her marriage and
sanctioned by the pope, she would submit, and look
upon herself as free as Henry VIII. himself. Never-
theless, "in the third place she prayed me to suppli-
cate, and to prevail upon his majesty to allow her to
remove this phantasy from His Holiness, and to re-
gard her as his consort, as she had been till now»
and [to tell the king] that she ofiered her head to
use her influence with the emperor for the conclusion
22 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the universal peace, and that his majesty (the
emperor) would, for her sake, abate so much of his
demands that the peace at least might take place.
As I had not failed to say all I could to persuade her
[to adopt] the profession [of some religion], and had
found her so firm, nothing more occurred to me, and
she left me. I assure you that from all her con-
versation and discourse I have always judged her
to be a prudent lady, and now more so. But as she
can without prejudice, as I have said above, avoid
such perils and difficulties her obstinacy in not ac-
cepting this sound counsel does not much please
me." *
On the 27th of October following, Campeggio and
Wolsey had another official conference with the
queen. They found her attended by most of her
counsel, and the chief seemed to be the Bishop of
Saint Asaph (Doctor Standish). She received them
with her accustomed dignity, without the least shade
of anger or impatience. Campeggio repeated his
advice to her to take the veil.f Wolsey pressed
* Letter of October 26th, from Campeggio to Salviati for
the pope, written in cipher. It has been quite lately found at
the Vatican, and deciphered. It was written partly in Italian,
partly in Latin. It is given by Professor Brewer, vol. iv, pt. ii,
pp. 2108, 2109. There are many particulars that cannot be pro-
duced in the text. See also Introduction to vol. iv, p. ccccxvii.
t This question had already been discussed in the first inter-
view between her and the legates. Campeggio had returned to
the charge even in the confessional, and had failed again. The
queen was always inflexible on this point.
THE king's annoyance. 23
it very much, and supplicated her on his knees to
follow this advice, to her honour and the good of her
soul. She replied that she would not violate God's
law nor risk eternal condemnation ; that she would
advise with her counsel, and give a final reply.
Cardinal Wolsey was not pleased at the indecision
and interminable delays of his colleague ; Henry
VIII. found it still harder to endure them. The day
after the last conference of the legates with the
queen took place, the king came in person to Cam-
peggio's residence, and had a most confidential con-
versation with him. An Italian, who was in a
contiguous chamber, and could hear something of
this conversation, told Mendoza that the king from
time to time showed great impatience. He pressed
the legate to give judgment as quickly as possible,
and when Carapeggio made evasive replies or kept
on raising objections the king's voice was raised, and
he seemed to become very angry. Mendoza writes
to the emperor that "he has been assured that on
that occasion the king was by no means pleased
with his visit, and that he left the legate's apartments
very much disappointed." *
Two days after this Henry VIII. had a serious
conference with the queen, and told her " that she
was not his wife, and that all the jurists of England
had subscribed a declaration to that effect with their
own names. The pope had condemned her at Rome,
* Gayangos, Calendar, voL iii, pt. ii, p. 842.
24 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
and the legate Carapeggio had come for the sole
purpose of having the sentence executed." Upon
which the queen inquired, " How can the pope con-
demn me without a hearing ?" The king replied,
"The emperor has answered for you, and conse-
quently the pope has decided against you.'^ Many
other equally groundless statements (burlerias) did
the king make, and ended by advising her to make a
religious profession, as the legate had recommended,
otherwise he said she would be compelled to do so.
The queen, with tears in her eyes, answered, *'May
God forbid my being the cause of that being done,
which is so much against my soul, my conscience,
and ray honour ! I know very well that if the
judges are impartial, and I am granted a hearing,
my cause is gained, for no judge will be found
unjust enough to condemn me," and she ended by
begging that she might be allowed to plead her own
cause. The king then said, " I am quite willing that
it should be so. A counsel shall be appointed for
your defence, and, moreover, you may send to
Flanders for a jurist ; but," added he, " this must
be done forthwith, for the affair admits of no delay." *
As soon as the king had left her, the queen wrote
to the Princess Margaret, regent of the Low Coun-
tries, to ask her to send two lawyers from Flanders,
who could undertake her defence and plead her
cause.
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 842.
THE QUEEN HARASSED. 25
, Some English bishops came again to visit her, and
again preached the necessity of going into a convent.
She had been so wearied and harassed by these per-
petual attacks that she was, says Mendoza, in a
pitiable condition.
26
CHAPTER XI.
Charles V.'s Letter — ^IVIendoza's Communication with Cam-
peggio — Odious Official Interrogatory that the Queen is
compelled to Undergo — Effect produced by the Exhibi-
tion of the copy of the Brief of Dispensation asserted to
be False — Attempts made at Rome and in Spain to pro-
cure the Original of this Document— The Queen's Ad-
visers persuade her to write Herself to the Emperor to beg
him to send the Original to London — ^IVIendoza's Opposi-
tion — The King's Speech to the Aldermen — ^IMoral Con-
dition of the Court, and Licreasing Favour of Anne
Boleyn — ^Popular Discontent.
WHILE Catharine was surrounded with hostile
conspiracies, her powerful protector, Charles
v., did not allow the zeal he had from the beginning
shown in her cause to relax for a moment.
On the 9th of November, 1528, reckoning that
Campeggio must be in London by that time, he
wrote a letter of minute directions to Mendoza, and
especially insisted that the divorce suit must not be
tried in England.
To attain this end, he sent him two protests
against the selection that had been made of the two
legates. The first contains, as it seems,* formal ex-
* The drafts of these protests have not been found.
CHARLES V.'S OBJECTIONS. 27
ceptions against both of the judges as holding bene-
fices from Henry VIII. ; the second raised objections
against Wolsey alone, as having published his opin-
ion. He gave his ambassador full power to make
use of either of these documents at his discretion.
He even authorised him not to make use of either
of them unless Campeggio had received an express
commission from the pope to pass judgment upon
the validity of Catharine's marriage ; in this case,
he thought it would be wiser to dissemble.*
Nothing is more curious than to see what minute
details a prince who had such enormous affairs upon
his hands in Europe thought it right to give.
When Mendoza had mastered the instructions con-
tained in this letter, he thought -he ought to proceed
to work upon Campeggio, and try to find out how
the cardinal understood the aim and spirit of his
commission ; thus did this clever diplomatist catch
and ably interpret his master's idea. So he went to
see Campeggio before the end of November, and thus
reports the result :
" I spoke some time ago to the legate (Campeggio),
and, after congratulating him upon his coming [to
England], told him how pleased your imperial ma-
jesty was at his appointment, knowing that a prelate
of his parts and learning could never have accepted
such a commission as this unless he were sure of
doing some good in the affair, and promoting the
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 810, 811, 812.
28 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
welfare of Christendom at large. He began to re-
count most minutely the causes of his coming, and
ended by expressing his opinion that the best way to
avoid the embarrassments that might arise would be
for the queen, of her own free will, to take the veil
before her case was submitted for trial. My reply
was that I never thought that his commission in
coming to England as Papal legate could be to pro-
pose such a settlement of the question pending be-
tween the queen and her husband, especially in such
troubled times as these, when it seemed to me that
old quarrels and dissensions between Christian princes
ought to be appeased instead of being stirred up. The
queen's case, moreover, so nearly touched his im-
perial majesty, as well as his brothers, the Kings of
Hungary and Portugal, that the emperor would
never allow her to be unjustly treated. The legate's
reply was that he was aware how much your im-
perial majesty took this affair to heart, as appeared
from the written answer given (in Spain) to this
king's herald ; but if the queen persisted in her re-
fusal, and would not take the pope's advice, he
(Campeggio) could do no more in the matter than
follow his instructions, which were not to deny jus-
tice to either side. I replied that the queen wished
for nothing more than her right [to be heard], only
that, her case being one of such importance, she
naturally wished to have it decided at Rome. The
legate assured me that the whole kingdom of
QUESTION TO THE QUEEN. 2^
England together would not make him swerve from
the right path. He was so far advanced in age that
it befitted him rather to prepare to appear before
God with a pure conscience than try to court the
favour of any prince in this world. He would pro-
ceed in the affair with such justice and impartiality
that nobody would have occasion to raise any com-
plaint against him. He would not move a step in
the affair without fresh instructions from Rome, and,
should he receive any, would not fail to apprise me
of them." Then he required and received a promise
of the most absolute secrecy from Mendoza on these
confidential communications.*
Five or six days afterwards, the queen received a
strange visit, and had to submit to an interrogatory
that she was far from expecting.
As the legates, in their last conference with her^
had asked for any papers she had in her possession
which might be useful in her suit, she had given them
a copy of the brief of dispensation, the original having
been at the time sent to Queen Isabella of Castille.
Catharine had received this copy from Mendoza some
time before. In the month of October she gave
audience to two prelates who had been named as
her counsel — Wareham,Archbi8hopof Canterbury, and
Tunstall, Bishop of London, with some other persons
of distinction. They told her that two questions had
been put to them by the other party, and that they
♦ Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 844.
so CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
were obliged to refer them to her. Thereupon they
had to ask her, first, whether she had desired the
king's death, and had conspired against his life, so
that she might be free, she herself and her daughter,
to marry as they pleased ; secondly, whether she
had any special reason for not having sooner ex-
hibited the brief of dispensation for her marriage
which she had lately placed in the legates' hands,
and wished to know how she had procured it.
The answer was, as to the first question, " that she
could not imagine that such an abominable accusation
could come from the king, her lord, for he knew well
that she prized his life more than her own, and that
therefore there was no need for her to answer such a
question as that ; and respecting the copy of the brief
of dispensation, she had not exhibited it before be-
cause she had never imagined that it would be re-
quired. As to who had given it to her, she stated
that Don Inigo de Mendoza had sent it to her six
months ago."
When the bishops had gone the queen sent Men-
doza a message to tell him what had passed, and, as
she was not sure of the exact date when the copy
was given her, she told him what her answer had
been, so that, if he were asked, his reply might agree
with hers. This shows how prudent Catharine was,
cautious, and attentive to the smallest circumstances ;
she would not expose a flank in any quarter to her
accusers. Mendoza afterwards says :*
* Gaj'angos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 848.
jiendoza's letter. 31
•' The reason why they interrogated the queen as
to whether it was true that she had attempted the
king's life, that she and her daughter, the princess,
might afterwards marry whomsoever they pleased,
was solely from the king's impatience to have the
separation hastily pronounced by Legate Campeggio
before proceedings had been even commenced. Most
likely the queen's enemies could not think of a more
gratuitous or false accusation to serve their purpose
than to make this king believe that he could not live
with her except at the risk of his life. So great,
however, are the avarice of the English people and
the king's violence, that I am very much afraid wit-
nesses will in the end be found to testify to anything
whatsoever. Your imperial majesty may judge how
difficult the queen's position is when accused of the
very crime which has perhaps been attempted against
her, and that in the name of the king, her husband,
who must know her innocence.
*' The queen has been advised by some who take
an interest in her affairs not to show in any way that
she hopes or expects to be assisted in her troubles by
your imperial majesty. That, they say, would not
help her cause in the least, but, on the contrary,
prejudice it, as it might irritate the king. If he is
to desist from his demand, it must be by convincing
him that he can continue in his present matrimony
without sin, not by any other considerations, much
less that of fear of your imperial majesty."
32 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
In the same letter, according to very ill-founded
public report, Mendoza expresses a fear that Cam-
peggio might be accessible to corruption. Some said
that the cardinal had received twenty thousand
crowns, partly in presents, partly in gold. " For,
though this king is generally very careful of his
money, such is his passionate love for the lady
(Anne) that he will spare nothing to see his wishes
accomplished, and will put all his fortune at stake.'*
That was true ; it is also certain that money and
valuable presents had been ojQTered to Campeggio,
but he had sent back the money and refused the
presents. Henry VIII. had even oflfered him the
rich bishopric of Durham,* but the honest cardinal
would not hear a word of it. He preserved his inde-
pendence completely throughout his mission.
As for the queen's English advisers, their conduct
seemed suspicious, and they abused the influence
given them by their position to engage her in pro-
ceedings that seemed contrary to her real interests.
We must first explain that the terms of the bull of
* Lingard translation, vol. vi, p. 211. (It is not to be found
in the English edition of 1838. Ed.) It seems that, when Cam-
peggio had refused the bishopric of Durham, the revenues, amount-
ing to twenty thousand pounds, were given to Lady Anne for a
whole year. Howard, Wolsey the Cardinal and his Times, London,
1824, s. I., p. 437. Burnet has the audacity to say that Cam-
peggio had brought an illegitimate son with him to England.
Now the cardinal had been married before he was a priest, and
only took orders at an advanced age. So his son Rodolphe was
legitimate.
BULL OF JULIUS U. 33
dispensation granted by Julius II. had been held to
be quite insufficient, and that Wolsey had contrived
a fresh plan of attack on this ground. But the copy
of the brief furnished by Catharine upset this plan
completely, for the brief had provided for all the
omissions of the bull. Neither the cardinal nor
Henry VIII. suspected that this document had been
sent into Spain to Ferdinand and Isabella, and that
the original was safe in Charles V.'s hands. Then
the divines and doctors in attendance on the king
did not scruple to raise objections against the authen-
ticity or fidelity of the copy produced by Catharine.
They said that if the brief had really been the work
of Julius II. a minute of it must be found on the
registers in the Vatican, and the king sent instruc-
tions to his ambassadors to make inquiries for it ; but
in addition they said that the emperor had only to
send the original of the brief, as it was in his pos-
session, to London, and an examination could be
made whether it bore the marks of authenticity.
Mendoza informed the emperor of these fresh facts.
He said some friends of the queen were afraid that
the last English ambassador sent to Rome in great
haste, with his hands full of gold, might be intended
to bribe the cardinal datary (Giberto), and to purloin
the register, or to falsify the original brief of dispen-
sation, so as to destroy its force. He says :
" The queen has sent me a message to this eflfect,
requesting that I would communicate the intelligence
VOL. U. D
34 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to the imperial ambassador at Rome. I have com-
plied with her wishes and written to him (Muxetula),
not by special messenger, owing to the roads in Italy
being, as I am told, intercepted by the Venetians,
but through a merchant of this place. May my letter
reach him in safety, that the imperial agents near the
pope may be warned against the designs of these
people, who, after accusing the poor queen of
attempting the life of her husband, will not certainly
scruple to falsify the draft of the dispensation brief,
or cause the original register to be conveyed where
it will never be found again. As I have said over
and over again, had the attested copy arrived [from
Spain], or were it to come soon, much mischief might
be avoided ; but such is the king's impatience, and
the pressure he puts upon those who are conducting
this aflfair, that I am very much afraid, unless at the
moment I write the document is already on its way,
it will come too late." *
In another place he insists that the original of the
brief must be carefully retained and preserved at
Madrid. He thought that Henry VIII. would be
capable of making it disappear as soon as he got it
* Additional letter of Nov. 19. Gayaugos, Calendar, vol. iii,
pt. ii, pp. 849, 850. Mendoza elsewhere explains that the king
had both the copy of the bull and the original of another brief sent
in Henry VII.'s time. But the brief that Isabella had received in
Spain just before her death was more explanatory, and established
the queen's right to marry again whether her first marriage were
consummated or not. Brewer, Letters and Papers, p. 2,297.
THE queen's advisers. 35
into his possession. He suggested that a new certi-
fied copy should be made in Spain in the presence of
the ambassadors.
Wolsey, on the other hand, wishing to procure the
original document at any price, thought it would be
a masterpiece of cleverness to get it demanded from
Charles V. by the queen herself. So he managed to
indoctrinate her chief advisers, telling them that an
inspection of the original of the brief would dissipate
all doubts and prove its authenticity, and also that
a simple copy would have no weight before a regular
tribunal.
The queen's advisers, therefore, prepared a very
curious document, published entire by Professor
Brewer in his collection.* They began by repeating
the arguments suggested by Wolsey, representing to
their august client that, if she did not do as asked,
she ran the risk of having her marriage annulled and
her daughter declared illegitimate.
" This may easily be done if you write to the em-
peror that your counsel has shown you that the
original of the brief must be produced. The lacking
thereof might be the extreme ruin of your affairs,
and no little danger to the inheritance of your child.
* Letters and Despatches. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccxxiv.
It is headed. Advice to be given to the Queeii's grace by her counsel,
and is in Wriothesley's hand, who was at this time either under-
secretary to Tuke or Cromwell — that is, in the service either of
the king or Wolsey. Brewer, Note. Therefore it was put into
the queen's advisers' mouths by the adverse party. (Ed.)
d2
36 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
You shall further say you have promised to exhibit
the original here within three months ; failing which,
sentence will probably be given against you. If you
do not succeed in this, it will be much to your hin-
drance, for if we ourselves were judges in this matter,
and should lawfully find that where ye might ye
did not do your diligence for the attaining of the
said original, surely we would proceed further in
that matter as the law would require, tarrying no-
thing, therefore, as if never any such brief had been
spoken of.
"It is desirable also that you should write to the
emperor's ambassador, from whom you had the copy,
to support your application. If the emperor utterly
refuses, then the queen must protest that as it is her
own she will sue to the pope for compulsories, and
adopt other remedies as shall be thought convenient ;
but she hopes she will not be driven to use such
extremities. And to the intent that the king and
his council shall not think that she intends any
frivolous delay, it will be expedient that she declare
in the presence of a notary that she intends not to
use any delay, but will recover it with all diligence,
bond fide, and when it is sent it shall be exhibited." *
This last demand, showing an insulting want of
confidence, was no doubt also suggested by Wolsey.
We do not know if such a declaration was made by
the queen, according to her counsel's advice, drily
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccxv.
ABEL'S mSSION. . 37
enough expressed as may be seen. But what is
quite certain is that she wrote a letter to the em-
peror of the kind the prelates, her advisers, wished,
desiring him to be satisfied with keeping a certified
copy for himself, and sending her the original brief.*
This letter was entrusted to her chaplain, Thomas
Abel, for transmission to her nephew, Charles V.
But Abel, in the same parcel and the same conveyance,
sent another letter to the emperor, written by him-
self, and informing his majesty that, in claiming the
original of the brief, the queen did not express her
real desire, but had acted under pressure of a sort of
moral violence. He added that she begged him to
do everything in his power to have the suit trans-
ferred to Rome, for she could expect no justice in
England. Lastly, he requested, in the name of the
queen, that the imperial ambassador at Rome, Muxe-
tula, should be informed of her real situation, her
almost complete want of liberty ; and that he should
be requested to tell all this to the pope, in explanation
of the queen's silence.
The king had also taken umbrage at the accla-
mations and tokens of respect which were paid to
the queen as she passed through the city. He was
much angered at the symptoms of his own loss of
popularity and its transfer to her ; and his ill-
* Brewer says this letter is preserved in the archives at
Simancas, but we cannot find it in the last volumes of the
Calendar edited by Gayangos.
38 CATHARINE OF ARA60N.
humour had been increased by stories that the em-
peror had boasted that, whenever he chose to give
Henry's own subjects a leader, together with some
assistance, he could overthrow his throne. The king
therefore arranged this scene to stifle any notion
of insurrection by intimidation. This scene is very
forcibly described by the French ambassador, Dq
Bellay.
" On Sunday week * the king made a great repre-
sentation of this affair to the lord mayor and council
of London, who were all assembled, with those of
his privy council, and a greater part of the lords of
the land, and other personages having charge of hi»
affairs in different places. He spoke of the good
turns done him by the emperor, both in the present
and the past ; and on the other hand the great
friendship shown him by Francis, declaring that the
scruples of conscience he has long entertained have
terribly increased upon him since a French bishop
(De Tarbes), a learned man, who was then ambassa-
dor here, had spoken of it in his council in terms
dreadfully plain, so that he was anxious to secure
the succession of his realm, and wished to learn from
his good subjects and friends what was to be thought
of it in law and reason ; that he was determined
to follow entirely what was reasonable, and that if,
meanwhile, any man should speak of it in other
terras than he ought to speak of his prince, he would
* November 8th.
DU bellay's letters. 39
let him know that he is master. I think he used
this expression, *that there was not a head so
dignified (si belle) that he would not make it fly.' " *
There was in it a kind of reminder of Bucking-
ham's execution, a sort of flash of the sword soon to
be handed to the executioner, a kind of awful pro-
clamation of the era of tyranny dawning upon
England.
Some days later the same ambassador, in the
course of his diplomatic correspondence, faithfully
described the situation of the Court, the king's
policy, and the interference of his police in the
disturbed and secretly agitated country.
"Mademoiselle de Boulan is at last comef thither,
and the king has lodged her in a very fine lodging,
which he has prepared for her close by his own.
Greater court is now paid to her every day than has
been to the queen for a long time. I see they mean
to accustom the people by degrees to endure her, so
that when the great blow comes it may not be
* Letter of Jean du Bellay, November 17th, 1528. Letters
and Papers, Brewer, vol. iii, pt. ii, p, 2144. Histoire du Divorce
of Joachim Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 218, 219.
t Henry VIII., with a reasonable respect for conventionality,
and perhaps by Wolsey's advice, had sent Lady Anne some time
before to her father. When he wished to recaU her the young
lady received her royal lover's invitation with a show of disdain.
At last she yielded, not to the king's orders but to her father's
entreaties. This little scene was admirably played. This is the
reason of Du Bellay 's expression, " at last." See also Lingard,
vol. vi, pp. 140, 141.
40 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
thought strange. However, the people remain quite
hardened, and I think they would do more, if they
had more power ; but great order is continually
taken." *
That is to say that the revulsion of general feeling
was suspected, and popular discontent closely watched
by authority.
* Letter of December 9th. Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iii,
pt. ii, p. 2,177. Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 231.
There is a most remarkable letter from the emperor to Catha-
rine, dated September 1st, 1528: — "Now I hear that Cardinal
Campeggio is going to England, but I am certain — because the
pope writes me so — that nothing wiU be done to your detriment,
and that the whole case wiU be referred to him at Rome, the car-
dinal's secret mission being to advise the king your husband to do
his duty." Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 781. (Ed.)
41
CHAPTER XII.
Montoya, Catharine's Agent, sent to Spain — Secret Com-
munications between the Queen and Muxetula, the Empe-
ror's Ambassador to the Sovereign PontiiF — Henry VIII.
sends to Rome first Bryan and Vannes, afterwards Blnight
and Benett — Strange Instructions that he gives them,
and his Recourse to the Pope's Absolute Power — His
Miserable Trickery against the Queen — Catharine's Touch-
ing Complaints and Protestations.
THE unseen struggle between Henry VIII. and
Catharine continued. The king's attempts were
repeated, both upon Clement VII. and the Pontifical
Court, and upon the two legates in London ; counter-
mines were sprung by Charles V. and his agents, with
unfailing attention and forethought.
The bad effect that might have been produced upon
Charles V. by the letter the queen had been forced to
write had been neutralised either by that of her
chaplain, Thomas Abel, or by Mendoza's despatches.
But that was not all. After Catharine's agent,
Philipp, had returned to London, she obtained the
king's permission to send an officer of her household,
named Montoya into Spain. She gave him no letter,
either in ordinary writing or in cipher. She only
42 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
sent a verbal message, and Mendoza made him
almost learn by heart* what he was to say confi-
dentially to the emperor. Montoya was to enlighten
the emperor as to the moral constraint that
Henry VIII. was exercising over the queen, and
repeat to him that no account was to be taken of
her last letter, nor of the wish she expressed to be
judged in England as soon as possible.
Campeggio continued to oppose the power of
inertia to Henry VIII. The king supposed, with
some reason, that the cardinal was fettered by in-
structions he received from Rome.f So he deter-
mined to send fresh agents to Italy. Mendoza says
"that these agents were well provided with false
tales, and every possible means of corruption; the
queen is greatly alarmed."
The new ambassadors were Vannes and Sir Francis
Bryan ; their mission was not only to demand that
Campeggio should be hurried, but to contend against
the efforts the emperor was said to be making to
conciliate the pope.
Muxetula, the imperial ambassador at Rome, was
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 884, 885.
t See a letter from Sanga, the pope's secretary, who writes to
Campeggio that he was especially to endeavour to make Henry
VIII, renounce his plan of divorce, and persuade him to restore
his affection to the queen. This was easier said than done. Sanga
also told him he was not to move a step more without fresh in-
structions from the pope. Letter quoted by Brewer. Introduction,
vol. iv, p. ccccxix.
CATHARINE'S LETTER. 43
informed of these new diplomatic manoeuvres, and he
acted with indefatigable vigilance and zeal to discon-
cert all the intrigues going on around the pope, and
protect his master's and Queen Catharine's interest.
She knew it, and wrote him a very flattering and
grateful letter.
*' Ambassador,
" Your letter enclosing papers has come to
hand. I thank you very much for the diligence and
care you display in my affairs, without my having
directly applied to you. Be sure that you will always
find a true friend in me to do you any favour within
my power. I beg you to continue in future as
hitherto, and follow up this cause as it has begun.
Let me know what answer His Holiness makes to
your representations and petitions on my behalf. I
shall feel grateful for this and any other service you
may render me, and will not fail to apprise the
emperor, your master, of any further steps taken in
my defence. In all other matters you shall give full
credence to Don Inigo de Mendoza, the emperor's am-
bassador at this Court, to whom I am as much in-
debted as I am to yourself, for the trouble and pains
you have taken in my affairs. His letters will inform
you of the proceedings.
"Anton Curt (Hampton Court) this 25th of January, 1529."»
Thenceforward Muxetula might consider himself
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 880, 881.
M CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
to be Catharine's accredited agent; he possessed
written proofs of her real intentions. Thanks to
Mendoza, who wrote to him often enough, he was
kept awake to all the plots hatched in England, and
was always ready to act at a moment's notice.
Catharine's letter was at the same time an implied
ratification of the protest* made in Charles V.'s name
in the summer of 1528, by this same ambassador,
against the proposed divorce announced at this time
by Henry VIII.
Muxetula, being himself neither canonist nor
divine, wished the queen to have a lawyer at Rome
in special charge of her case. Mendoza replied that
the queen was too much beset and watched to be
able to correspond freely with an agent of her own,
and told him at the same time that he had persuaded
her to write a letter with her own hand to the pope,
to tell him her real wishes. He says,
"As your worship wrote that your stay [at Rome]
would not be of long duration, the letter will go
under cover to Cardinal Santa Croce, to whom, in
case of your worship having already left Rome, full
* A copy of a protest is preserved in the imperial archives at
Vienna, presented at Viterbo to the pope on July 20, 1528, by
Giovanni Antonio Muxetula, patricius Neapolitanus thus docketed
(Rep P, Fax C, 224, No. 21), Copie de I'acte de protestation
faicte de la part de I'empereur par devant le pape k Viterbo contra
tout ce qui se faisait en Angleterre en la cause du divorce. Note
to Calendar, Gayangos, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 884.
The emperor in a letter to Mendoza, p. 810, also mentions the
protest. (Ed.)
SANTA CROCE AND MUXETULA. 45
instructions shall be sent of the present cipher. Your
worship is requested to inform the cardinal, or the
imperial ambassador who may remain in charge of
the embassy after his departure, that I (Don Inigo^
happen to know from a good source that the Kings
of France and England, together with Cardinal
(Wolsey), are pressing the pope to go to Avignon,
whither they themselves offer to go and meet him,
to devise means for preventing the emperor's journey
to Italy." *
Mendoza again begs the ambassador to cause
search to be made at Rome to see if the minute of
the brief of dispensation held by Charles V. can be
found.
Thus Cardinal Santa Croce and Muxetula received
important papers, and all possible information to en-
lighten them as to the state of affairs, and so were
strongly armed to contend with the new English
ambassadors.
These arrived at Rome with very detailed instruc-
tions, very full and insidiously contrived. The
emperor was accused of a desire of making himself
master of Italy, and of taking Rome for the seat of
his empire, and of having even invoked the aid of
ancient prophecies in support of these ambitious de-
signs. The ambassadors were to collect all these
scattered rumours, however childish, and give them
consistency.
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 882, 883.
46 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
They were also to dazzle the pope's eyes with the
powerful and effectual assistance that Henry VIII.
and Francis I. would give hina, and their promise to
provide him with a chosen band of body-guards ; the
ambassadors were to be careful to contrast the selfish
demands of Charles V. with the devotion and disin-
terestedness of the King of England. Then they
were, with much caution, to approach the inquiry in-
to the secret reasons why the proceedings necessary
before pronouncing judgment on the divorce business
were not according to their ordinary course, but
seemed hampered by orders from Rome. Then the
sovereign pontiff's attention was to be called to a
copy of a brief, alleged to be authentic, produced by
the queen, that had never been heard of till then,
neither in the days of King Henry VII., nor the time
of Ferdinand, nor under Leo X. ; and, if there was
no trace of it existing in the Roman cancellaria, they
were to require Clement VII. to declare the docu-
ment fabricated and false.
In these instructions, signed by the king himself,
the ambassadors are also desired to retain for the
side of the divorce cause, by suitable payments and
secret agreements, the best advocates and most
learned canonists to be found in the Eternal City,
" and must learn from them whether, if the queen
can be induced to enter into lax religion, the pope
may, in plenitudine potestatis, dispense with the king
to proceed to a second marriage, with legitimation
THE king's instructions. 47
of the children ; and, although it is a thing that the
pope perhaps cannot do in accordance with the
divine and human laws already written, using his
ordinary power, whether he may do it of his mere
and absolute power, as a thing in which he may dis-
pense above the law ; what precedents there have
been, and how the Roman Court shall define or de-
termine, and what it doth use or may do therein, so
that no exception, scruple, or doubt may be hereafter
alleged in anything that shall be affirmed to be in
the pope's power. Similarly, as the queen will prob-
ably make great difficulty in entering religion or
taking the vow of chastity, means of high policy
must be used to induce her thereunto ; and, as she
will perhaps resolve not to do so unless the king will
do the like, the ambassadors must find out from their
counsel if, to ensure so great a benefit to the king's
succession and realm and to the quiet of his con-
science, he takes such a vow, whether the pope will
dispense with him for the said promise or vow, dis-
charging him clearly of the same, and thereupon to
proceed, ad secunda vota cum legitimatione prolis, as is
aforesaid.*
*' Furthermore to provide for everything, as well
propter conceptum odium as for the danger that may
ensue by continuing in the queen's company, they
shall inquire whether the pope will dispense with the
* If the pope had this power, what becomes of the argument from
Leviticus against marriages between brother and sister-in-law ?
48 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
king to have duas uxores, making the children of the
second marriage legitimate as well as those of the
first ; whereof some great reasons and precedents,
especially of the Old Testament, appear."*
This is a specimen showing to what had come the
mind of Henry VIII., who signed these strange in-
structions. It is well known that the leaders of
Protestantism in Germany allowedf that in certain
cases bigamy might become a legitimate necessity.
But the Church of Rome has more self-respect, and
more respect for the traditions that she holds from
the Saviour and his apostles. If such a request had
been addressed to the pope, he would have felt deeply
outraged in his pontifical dignity.
Happily, Henry, in a kind of postscript, desired
Bryan and Vannes not to execute the last part of his
instructions, until they should have conferred with
two fresh ambassadors, who he said would soon
arrive — Knight, his private secretary, and Doctor
Benett.
Indeed, in his impatience to end the matter, the
king had chosen to add these two diplomatists to the
others, who had only started a few days sooner.
Benett and Knight themselves took with them Doctor
Taylor, and, as they went through France, they all
waited upon Francis I. They talked to that king
about the late production of the brief, said they
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 2158.
t Melancthon in the case of the Landgraf of Hesae.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. 49
thought it false, and lately forged to meet the re-
quirements of the case. It seemed as if there was
no affair more important, not only in England, but at
Rome, and in all Europe. The ambassadors were
not to let anyone guess how bitter would be the dis-
appointment and deep the grief of Henry VIII., if it
were proved that the suspicions of falsity were un-
founded. They were to learn what their forerunners
had effected towards obtaining evidence of the falsity
of the document. The king did not wish to appear
as a party before the Court of Rome, as that would
have implied his acceptance of the pope's jurisdiction ;
he desired that his ambassadors should try to lay
before the pope, as a case of conscience, the doubts
that Henry had conceived as to the authenticity of
the brief just produced. They were instructed to
say " that the king, having his mind fixed on the
certainty of eternal life, hath in this cause put before
his eyes the light and shining brightness of truth, as
the best foundation for the tranquillity of his con-
science, knowing, as the apostle says, that there is
no good foundation except that which Christ has
laid ; and that the king, finding his conscience
touched by plain suspicion of the falsity in the brief,
has recourse to the only fountain of remedy on earth
— the pope himself.
" They shall desire him to set aside all vain allega-
tions, and in this matter bring the truth to light ;
and, considering the importance of the thing, how
VOL. n. E
50 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
many may be touched by it to urge that by consent-
ing to put an end to the cause, as he may do by the
plenitude of his power, all suspicions may be re-
moved. They shall also obtain a commission decretal
to the legates to pronounce the breve forged. If the
pope will not consent, they shall deliver to His Holi-
ness the other letters of the two legates desiring the
avocation of the cause, and a written promise from
the pope to give sentence in the king's favour, on
certain grounds of which a summary is sent ; e. g.,
that the emperor will not send the brief, that the
brief is false on the face of it, and that the king is in
great perplexity, and his health is in danger, &c.
But they shall obtain a promise from the pope before
the avocation."*
We can hardly believe our eyes when we read such
things! It really seems as if Henry had lost his
head, and a species of madness seems to be visible
in the midst of all his diplomatic villainies.
There were also instructions from the legates
urging the despatch of the business, and apologising
for the king, saying that it was not for the sake of
pacifying his passions that he desired the voiding of
his former marriage, but that in the interest of the
country he wished for a family, and male children.
Unhappily there is only one copy of this paper,
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 2160. Intro-
duction, p. ccccxxxii.
PRESSURE ON CATHARINE. 51
and it is not believed that Campeggio signed it.*
Whilst Heniy VIII. was thus intriguing at Rome
he was also at work upon his unhappy wife herself.
He would not give her liberty of defence nor power
of appeal, which he would not have refused to the
least of his subjects. He had sent away the Spanish
advocates associated with Catharine's counsel, as
being harder to influence than natives of his king-
dom. Now he made use of the legates themselves
to procure the queen's submission, persuading them
to employ in turn cajolery and menaces. Most odi-
ous espial was directed on the details of her private
life.
Thus, when Henry had abolished the household,
and dismissed the Court of the Princess Mary, she
had returned to her mother. Now Catharine was
accused of a habit of savage and morose devotion
unseasonable to the youth around her. The queen,
thinking she ought to give her daughter some diver-
sion, 80 as to prove that her piety was not so nar-
row, without having anything that could be called
an entertainment, let her dance sometimes with her
companions. The opportunity was seized of blam-
I
* See a note of Brewer. Introduction to vol. iv, p. 2162.
" The reader must be on his guard against supposing that any of
these drafts were really sent or submitted to the persons to whom
they are addressed. They are probably, like other papers on the
question of the divorce, devices which occiured to the king or
Wolsey from time to time, and might or might not be used as
occasion served." (Ed.)
E 2
52 CATHARINE OF ARAGON
ing her roundly for this great impropriety. The
legates were to tell her that she ought not to amuse
herself while the king was sad and pensive, on
account of all that was going on. And what was
Henry about? He was going, no doubt, without
much publicity, it is true, to lighten his sorrow and
cheer his pensiveness by Anne Boleyn's side, in her
fine apartments at Greenwich.
That was not all ! He caused reproaches to be
made to Catharine on account of the acclamations in
her favour that met her when she showed hei'self in
London, and the dislike of the people to Wolsey
and the king himself. He pretended to see in it
proofs of a secret conspiracy against the whole
English government I
Meanwhile the unhappy queen told the Spanish
doctor, Vives, confidentially — " The queen began to
open to him — as her countryman — her distress that
the man whom she loved more than herself should
be so alienated from her that he should think of
marrying another ; which was the greater grief the
more she loved him. The queen desired him to ask
the imperial ambassador to write to the emperor to
do what was just with the pope, lest she should be
condemned without being heard I" *
* Doctor Vives, whom Catharine had wished to place among
her advisers, was sent away by Henry VIII. as being a Spaniard.
But he remained some time longer in London to give the Princess
Mary Latin lessons. See his letter in Letters and Papers, Brewer,
vol. iv, p. 2166.
53
CHAPTER XIII.
Casale's Unsuccessful Attempts to accelerate the Divorce
Case — ^Two other English Agents, Bryant and Vannes,
sent to Rome to work in the matter of the Brief alleged
to be False — Their Objections refuted by the Imperial
Ambassador — Micer Mai and Cardinal Santa Croce —
"Wolse/s Political Strategy finds no Favour, either at
Rome or in London — France makes Overtures to the
Emperor — Clement VII.'s Illness — Wolsey's Candidature
for the Pontiff's Chair — Clement VII. recovers, and is
beset by the English Agents — He resists them with
Unconquerable Decision — He has a Long Conference
with Micer Mai, and gives a Promise that he will never
Assent to the Divorce — Micer Mai gives him an Affect-
ing Letter of Queen Catharine — Vain Complaints of the
English Ambassadors.
CASALE, the regular English agent at Rome, had
been desired to endeavour to induce the pope
to send orders to Cardinal Campeggio to communi-
cate to Henry's privy council the pontifical com-
mission, giving him the fullest powers to proceed to
the judgment of the divorce, and to authorise him to
act as speedily as he pleased. The pope replied that
Campeggio had burnt it, in accordance with the
instructions lately sent him, and that he had done
right. "But," he added, "that he (Campeggio)
would proceed whenever it was required, but he was
54 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
instructed to send word to Rome when the process
commenced." *
Casale objected that the pope had been brought
back to the emperor's party by a promise of the
restoration of Cervia and and Ravenna, parts of the
states of the church, which were still retained by the
Venetians. Wolsey was already aware of the pope's
ardent desire to recover them. But how could this
sacrifice be demanded from such a power as Venice,
unless with the support of France? But France
refused when she was applied to for her assistance.
When our ambassador communicated this refusal
to Wolsey we are assured that this old statesman
shed tears. This humiliating check to his diplomacy
was destined to entail many others ; and he foresaw
this with a kind of terror.
On their arrival, Bryant and Vannes obtained in-
formation confirming Casale's reports. The pope
and his advisers recognised that the emperor was all-
powerful in Italy, and that a second occupation of
Rome was not impossible. Moreover, the emperor
threatened the sovereign pontiff with the convoca-
tion of a general council, and this terrified the weak
and timid Clement Vll.f
The ambassadors' first proceedings were directed
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. ccccxliii.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt, ii, pp, 2105, 2186.
Clement VII. was illegitimate, and therefore legally ineligible
as pope. A general council must have declared his election void.
This gave power to the threat. (Ed.)
ARGUMENTS ON THE BRIEF. 55
against the brief so unexpectedly produced by Catha-
rine. They said they could not understand how the
document could have been sent to Ferdinand in
Spain, unknown to anyone, while the authentic copy
of the bull had been addressed to Henry VII. in Eng-
land, at his request. What was the use of this double
process ? They were anxious to search the Vatican
registers, and did not find a minute of the brief.
Besides, they said that the two documents purport-
ing to be written the same day, at the beginning of
the year, could not have been signed by Julius II.,
for the ecclesiastical year of Rome begins on the
25th of December of our common calendars, and at
that time Julius II. had not become pope.
But this objection proved too much ; for it applied
to the bull as well as the brief, and the fact of the
bull was not contested.
As to Clement VII., in the preparation of a brief,
perhaps only a few hours later than the bull it-
self, he only saw Julius II.'s deliberate intention to
confirm, and perhaps explain, the dispensation already
given. Besides, he thought he could not decide a
point of fact like a forgery in an authentic document
in virtue of his infallibility, since that ought to be
reserved for doubt in points of doctrine and morality.
He said that the emperor's explanations must be
awaited; for that prince had sent information to
Rome that he was in possession of the original of
the brief in question in Spain, that he would exhibit
56 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
it to several ambassadors, especially to the Eng-
lish, and that, until a formal demand had been
made upon the Spanish government to thus pro-
duce it, no accusation of forgery could be brought
against King Ferdinand or the emperor Charles V.
The ambassadors also proposed assistance to the
pope, to provide him with a guard of honour, etc.
And as Clement VII. received all these offers of
service very coolly, they ventured to say, on behalf
of Wolsey, " that the emperor for some time had
become conciliated to Henry VIII., and that he might
do himself the pleasure to condescend to the king's
desire." *
But Wolsey did not suspect that Muxetula and
Cardinal Santa Croce were well informed of all
that passed in England, and perhaps only the night
before had told the sovereign pontiff the very reverse
of what the English ambassadors affirmed.
Everything was turning against the unhappy
Wolsey. The English divines would have been of
opinion that the local jurisdiction was competent
to decide the divorce case, certainly in the first
instance.f
* Reference not given. We find in Letters and Papers,
Brewer. Introduction, p. ccccxlvii, " What those ends were, the
cardinal did not scruple to inform the ambassador." By taking
this presidy the pope would be brought to have "as much fear
and respect towards the king's highness as he now hath towards
the emperor, and consequently be the gladder to grant and
condescend unto the king's desire." (Ed.)
t This was the course Napoleon I. adopted to cause his mar-
Clement's perplexities. 57
But Wolsey dreaded that such a course might lead
to a complete separation, that is to say, a schism
between England and Rome. In order to maintain
the bonds of union between England and the Catholic
church he had devised that a demand should be
made for one of the two judges in the divorce suit
to be a representative of the pope, and that, in virtue
of this qualification, he might give judgment in first
and last instance. Clement VII. did not choose to
make this arrangement, and always reserved cognis-
ance of the case on appeal to himself. Wolsey
thought that the pope would be thankful to him
for having asked for a second judge and legate from
Rome. Clement, overwhelmed with cares and anxie-
ties, both for the sorrows of Italy and for the con-
sequences of the Lutheran heresy in Germany, would
have much preferred, at such a moment, not to have
besides on his hands this delicate and difiicult busi-
ness, bringing him into all kinds of difficulties with
the King of England and the emperor.
Thus Wolsey had by no means gained the pope's
good-will, by an expedient which he thought was a
concession to the pope's prerogative, and all the
Boleyn party began to be alienated from him, on
account of his ill-success in the conduct of the divorce
suit. Lady Anne had for some time shown the
riage with Josephine to be annulled, and to be set free to marry
Marie Louise of Austria. But Napoleon had taken his measures
to prevent any appeal being made to Rome against the decision of
the Paris courts.
58 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
greatest exasperation against the minister, on whom,
but a few months before, she had been lavishing
assurances of the warmest gratitude. She supposed
that this statesman was playing a double game, and
was endeavouring, in secret, to delay the judgment
of the suit, " from fear of losing his power the mo-
ment she becomes Queen of England. This suspicion
of the lady," says Mendoza, " has been the cause of
her forming an alliance with her father (Viscount
Rochford), and with the two Dukes of Norfolk and
Suffolk, to try to see whether they can conjointly
ruin the cardinal. Hitherto they seem to have made
no impression on the king, save that the cardinal is
no longer received at Court as graciously as before,
and that now and then King Henry has uttered cer-
tain angry words respecting him. It is not likely,
however, that his displeasure will take any other form
for the present." *
There was a circumstance that might have appeas-
ed the king's impatience and quieted his ill-humour,
which was that Lady Anne was said to be relaxing
her apparent strictness. According to Du Bellay,
whose language is less serious and less diplomatic
than Mendoza's, "I strongly suspect that for some
time the king has been very closely intimate with
Mademoiselle Anne, and so you must not be astonish-
ed if they wish to hurry the divorce." And then he
* Letter of Mendoza to the emperor, Feb. 4th, 1529. Gayan-
gos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 885, 886.
THE EMPEROR AND FRANCIS I. 59
mentions rumours as to the necessity of a speedy
marriage, and a decision to legalize it.
In his extremity Wolsey induced Du Bellay to
write to the King of France, and claim his support
with the pope in Italy. He wrote at the same time
to Racket, the diplomatic agent employed by England
at the Court of Flanders, to ask information respect-
ing the relations between the emperor and Francis I.
Du Bellay reminded his Court that Wolsey had
always been favourable to the French alliance, and
that he had refused the most flattering and brilliant
offers of Charles V. in order to be faithful to it.
Francis and his mother transmitted to the ambassa-
dor expressions of their great gratitude to the cardi-
nal. But they only gave very vague hopes of
effective assistance in Italy. And that is not sur-
prising, for, just at the very time when he was giving
fair words to the English minister, the king was
secretly working for terms of peace with the
emperor.
Hacket wrote to Wolsey at the end of the month
of January :
"I have been secretly informed, by two men of
credence, that the French king and the regent have
a secret conveyance (communication) with my lady
(Margaret) and Hogestrath to make peace with the
emperor unknown to the king or Wolsey. My lady
(Margaret) said last night that Madame de Pinnay
(Espinay), who came lately from France, was told by
60 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the French king to show verbally to my lady that
the French king is willing to come to an agreement
with the emperor, and that if the emperor and he
were at agreement they would cause the king
(Henry) to leave some fantasy that he has afore him.
Told my lady that it was indiscreetly spoken for a
noble prince. She answered, 'Monsieur I'Ambassa-
deur, you may do all that you like to oblige the
French, but, when you have done all, you will find
they are not to be trusted.' " *
Wolsey did not take much account of this letter,
because he looked upon Hacket as a man of no great
sagacity, and likely to take the merest gossip seriously.
He also communicated this information to Du Bellay,
and was completely reassured by him. Yet it is very
remarkable that a statesman generally so attentive
as the cardinal should have neglected such informa-
tion, and not troubled himself about it at all. Yet,
in view of the increasing difficulties of the situation,
he determined to send Gardiner to Rome, to assist
and direct the other ambassadors.
Very soon after this diplomatic agent set forth on
his journey a great piece of news came to distract
Wolsey's mind from any other thoughts ; namely, a
dangerous illness of Clement VII. ; indeed, a report
of his death.
The King of England immediately thought of pro-
* Lettera aud Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, ccccl and
li, and pt. ii, p. 2283.
wolsey's ambition. 61
curing the election of Wolsey to the Papacy in case
of a vacancy. The cardinal himself passionately de-
sired the tiara, either to gratify his old ambition, or
as a means of escape from the inextricable difficulty
that had overtaken him in England. The King of
France promised his support in the conclave. A
calculation was made of the probabilities of the votes.
It was found that the Anglo-French party might
reckon upon twenty voices, and there were only
thirty-six cardinals in all, and of them five or six
more might be won over.* But Providence prolonged
the days of Clement VIL, and put g,n end to these
odious calculations and speculations on the presumed
approach of his end. He had hardly become conva-
lescentf when the English agents made their way
even to his bedside, and tried to take advantage of
his physical weakness to obtain what they wanted
from him. But all their prayers and threats were
wrecked against the pope's wisdom and firmness.
He said he could not deprive Catharine of the privi-
leges allowed by canon law to every accused person
* See the nominal list of cardinals of the two parties, with notes
on each of them. Letter of Carpi, the French agent, dated Feb. 2nd,
given in the third volume of L'Histoire du Divorce, by Joachim
Legrand, p. 299 et seq.
t Lingard, vol. vi, p. 147. Indeed, they hardly awaited his
convalescence ; for, according to Henry VIII .'s instructions, the
ambassadors were to force an entry to the pope, and to see him
even in articnlo mortis, in order that he might be the more dis-
posed to justice as being just about to appear before his God.
Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, pp. cccclvii, Iviii.
62 CATHARINE OF ARAGON;
or defendant in any suit. That the plenaria potestas
did not authorise him to change the true into false,
nor the just into the unjust. He was greatly de-
voted to the king, but could only do him services
compatible with reason and equity. His expression
was that the king had a good place in his Pater
noster, but none in his Credo.
All the expedients of the English diplomatists fell
impotent, all their hopes failed. Thus Vannes wrote
that, even if the queen were to take the veil, the pope,
having consulted with the most learned canonists at
Rome, had declared that, according to their advice,
he would have no right to allow the king to contract
a second marriage.
As to the supposed forgery, Clement wrote himself
to Henry VHI. on the 29th of April, 1529, that he
could not give a decision on this point till he had
heard both sides.
The pope had offered to send a special delegate to
Spain to examine the original on the spot, and com-
pare it with the copy, in concert with the English
ambassador. But Gardiner and his colleagues would
not consent ; time pressed, and an immediate de-
cision was needful. Gardiner did not spare the
wretched pontiff some violent scenes, even while he
was writhing with pains that seemed to be the agony
of death. Yet Gardiner could get nothing out of
that valiant spirit which continually rose above
THE pope's firmness, 63
bodily suffering. In vain did he and his colleagues
demand the publication of the bull of decretal, con-
taining the original commission, and insist on a
promise of ratification of the legate's sentence at
Rome, in case of its being unfavourable to the queen.
They had to be contented with further powers for the
cardinals, and, as this first pollicitation did not appear
sufficient, a second was obtained, more distinct aud
more extended, under specious pretexts.*
But as the pope in this document did not renounce
the right of receiving an appeal from the adverse
party, nor of transferring the caupe, if need arose,
the ambassadors' success was very incomplete. One
of the number, Bryant, a cousin of Anne Boleyn's,
wrote her a letter disguising a portion of the truth,
so as not to discourage her. But in his correspond-
ence with Wolsey he more frankly lamented that the
dexterity displayed by Gardiner, Vannes, and Gre-
gory Casale had been useless, and that their efforts,
as well as his own, had been thrown away.f
On their side Charles V. aud his ambassadors did
not remain inactive. In order to cut short the
arguments of the English agents the emperor had
proposed to furnish the original brief, the copy of
which had been impeached, but to show it to the
* See Bumet, Memoirs, and lingard, voL vi, p. 147.
t Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccclx. State
Papers, vii, p. 166.
64 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
pope alone, Gardiner and his colleagues would not
take any account of this offer, but it produced a
great effect upon the mind of Clement VII.
The emperor, in his letters to his diplomatic
agents, in the beginning of the year 1579, Men-
doza in England, and Muxetula and Micer Mai at
Rome, had never ceased to stir up their zeal in
his aunt Catharine's cause.*
In one of these letters, February 5th aud 6th,
1529, after accusing the English ministry and cour-
tiers of perverting King Henry's mind by vile arti-
fices and low intrigues, he tells Mendoza that it is
necessary to demand that the decision of the divorce
case should be transferred to the apostolic Holy See,
even though the queen, under the influence of fear
and even of violence, should oppose this measure,
"protesting, of course, the nullity of action, and
appealing to Rome, and, if necessary, to the next
general council,t citing and summoning each and
every one of them individually, and by their own
names, to appear at the Court of Rome, or before the
said general council, as it may be."
On the 16th of February following, he writes to
Muxetula, his ambassador at Rome, " It is our duty,
though the queen, desirous of avoiding scandal,
* Gayangos, Calendar. Charles V.'s letters.
t Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 891. "Protestando de
nullidad y appellacion pora la decha Sede Apostolica, y sino fuere
para et futuro Concilio, y de emplazarlos a ellos, y cada uno
dellosen su proprio y particixlar nombre."
MIOER MAI. 65
had not applied for it, to claim in this instance the
protection and favour of the Holy See, and to request
that the case be tried before his sacred consistory,
and the commission given to Cardinal Campeggio
revoked. We, therefore, command you to beg His
Holiness, in our name, to have the cause brought
before his Court, notwithstanding any contrary steps
taken by the new English ambassadors to prevent a
thing so just and reasonable." *
Meanwhile Micer Mai, the Spanish envoy to the
pontifical Court, had returned with all speed to his
post, and had taken several steps there. On March
6th he wrote to his master, " With regard to the
Queen of England's case, he (Mai) hopes that the
first brief put for the pope's signature will be that
for the adjudication of the suit at Rome."t
This hope was premature; for though the ponti-
fical Court and the cardinals seemed inclined for the
transfer of the cause to the Court of Rome their
good intentions were paralysed by the queen herself
not having expressed a wish, although Charles V.
and his agents had acted for her, and in her name.
This obstacle was soon to vanish.
By the 16th of March it is clear that events are
drawing on. Cardinal Santa Croce wrote the fol-
lowing letter to the emperor, and it must have
considerably advanced the solution of the question :
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt, ii, p. 895.
t Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 917.
VOL. II. F
66 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
"To-day, the 6th of March, a packet of letters has
been received from the imperial ambassador in Eng-
land of the 25th of February. There is, inside, one
from the queen to the pope, closed and sealed, ask-
ing him, as it is presumed, to have her case tried
here [at Rome]. The queen having complained that
she had no liberty to defend herself in England, it
was resolved that she herself should write an auto-
graph letter to the pope, stating her wishes. That
has been done^ as it would appear, with great dif-
ficulty, and is, most probably, the subject of her
missive. The queen writes to him (Santa Croce),
commanding him to put the letter into the pope's
hands with the greatest possible secrecy, as she does
not want anyone to know of it. The pope, how-
ever, is not well enough now to treat affairs of this
kind. As soon as he recovers, the letter shall be
given to him.
" Rome, 16th March, 1529." *
The cardinal wrote again on the 23rd of the same
month : that the pope was completely recovered,
and that he would immediately perform his commis-
sion.
Micer Mai, with the assistance of the lawyer to the
embassy, Doctor Ferrando, an Aragonese,t was mak-
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 928, 929.
t He says he is satisfied with this lawyer, only that it was
necessary to keep his eye upon him. The man was a Spaniard,
but Micer Mai knew that English gold tried to tempt all
consciences.
MAI'S WATCHFULNESS. 67
in^ active search in the archives of the datorium, and
elsewhere, for the duplicate or minute of the brief of
dispensation sent to Spain. He could not find it ;
but he laid his hand on two subsequent briefs re-
ferring to it, and implying its existence.
Micer Mai then says he would be very watchful of
the intrigues of the English ambassadors, and would
unravel and disappoint them. He discovered the
efforts they had made, and continued to make, to
procure the condemnation of the brief produced by
Queen Catharine, as tainted with forgery. The same
agents had not given up their idea of forcing her
to enter a convent. They added threats to persua-
sion. Jacobo Salviati, in order to overcome Micer
Mai's resistance, dared to say and repeat three or
four times that Catharine, for the sake of her salva-
tion, ought to go into a convent. Thus, he said,
she would be secured from any temptation to employ
poison or assassination.
Lastly, the English ambassadors, still discourte-
ous to the pope,* pretended that the emperor did not
attach as much importance to the divorce as was
averred. Micer Mai induced Clement VH., in a pri-
vate interview, to repeat to him the allegations of
these ambassadors. " When I heard the English am-
bassador express himself in this manner, I was on
* The English ambassadors assaUed the Head of the Church
■with terms anything but courteous. Letters and Papers, Brewer.
Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccclxiv.
F 2
68 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the point of making an angry answer, but the respect
due to His Holiness made me refrain. I said, how-
ever, that I was really ashamed that men in his
service should hold him in so small esteem as to
entertain him with similar tales,* and that they
should presume to spread and authorise in his pres-
ence at Rome, and, indeed, all over the world, the
absurd inventions circulated in England. My im-
pression was that the courtesy (facilidad) with which
His Holiness treated ambassadors had encouraged
them to such follies and lies. His Holiness would
perhaps pardon me if I said that the French and
English ambassadors were better treated at his Court
than we the imperialists ; for I had observed that,
whilst he barely treated us with common courtesy
(vulgarmente), he received the others most graciously
(a la evangelica). The pope having asked what I
meant by these words, I told him that there was a
common saying in Spain that honest men were on
the decrease,! and that such was evidently the case
here also ; for, seeing us so mild and obedient, he
took from us all he could ; whereas, the more insolent
and overbearing the others were, the better he was
pleased, and the more he attended to their pleasure
and comfort, as with the prodigal son in the Gospel.
"As to their arguments in proof of the invalidity
* Que tenia verguenza eu su servi que le toviesen en tan poco
que le acometiesen destos bellaguerias.
f El hombre honrado sempre va a menor.
INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 69
of the brief, I said that it was no new thing to write
out a bull or a warrant of some king, and then find
that there was something wanting in it. In such
cases, rather than have the bull or warrant amended
and re-written, it was customary to draw out a brief
or private letter. I myself had seen a thousand of
such letters at the Court and council of the emperor,
and I knew it to be the practice of all European
Courts. To this assertion the pope assented, and
said that the same thing was done at Rome. To
their objection that the entry in the register-book
could not be found, my answer was that His Holiness
was well aware, and could, if necessary, testify, that
briefs were not generally registered, either formerly
or at the present day ; which assertion of mine the
pope also corroborated with his testimony. Besides,
I added, who can tell me that the English ambassa-
dors, seeing the interest their master takes in the
disappearance of the said instrument, have not had
it stolen and made away with ? To their allegation
that similar deeds and papers should exist in England
as well as in Spain, I at once assented, but said, who
tells us that they are not there, but that the English
do not choose to look for them ? Besides, the other
day, in turning over some papers, I found a brief of
that pope, addressed to the King of England, where-
in he tells him, in answer to a complaint of his, that
the papers had been sent to Spain because Queen
Isabella was ill at the time, and wished to see the
70 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
brief of dispensation before she died. That is the
reason, and no other, why Pope Julius sent the
deeds to Spain, both parties having promised him to
keep the matter secret. This circumstance might
have prevented the registering of the brief — or, at
least, might have led to the entry of it on the books
being made so cautiously that it could not be found,
as is often the case with many things so carefully
hidden in the bowels of the earth that they never
again come to the surface.
" With regard to their gratuitous supposition that
your imperial majesty cared not about the cause, I
only remarked that His Holiness might infer by that
how deceitful and malicious the statement of the
English ambassadors was. His Holiness, therefore,
might judge from the English lies in this particular
what credit could be given to their other statements.
" The pope on this occasion went so far as to say
that the English ambassadors, in their address, had
certainly alluded to the matter of poison by saying,.
* Were not the king, our master, as good as he is,
he would have looked for other means of obtaining
his object, and certainly faithful servants would not
have been wanting to do his pleasure in an affair of
this sort.' My answer was that the queen had been
encouraged to run that risk rather than be a bad
wife, and prejudice her daughter's interests, and that
your imperial majesty approved highly of such con-
duct, because, should poison be administered to her.
LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 71
your majesty would take his revenge. Again did 1
tell the pope that I was really ashamed at such
matters being mentioned in his presence, and as-
tonished at the impudence of the ambassadors ; to
which the pope replied, *I must observe, however,
that the ambassador did not enter into further par-
ticulars.' * That is quite enough,' said I. Then he
added, ' Draw out your protest, and I will take care
that the case be tried here, at Rome. Even if the
emperor and all the rest of them should agree to the
divorce taking place, I will never authorise it.' I
thanked him for his good purposes, and said, * Your
Holiness is more bound to God than to the emperor
and the rest of the world.'
" After this came letters from Don Inigo, advising
that the affair was taking a very bad turn in Eng-
land, and would be irretrievably lost if the adjourn-
ment of the case to Rome was not immediately de-
cided on. A very touching letter* from the queen to
the pope came also, which I duly delivered into his
bands. He read it through very attentively, and
seemed touched by it, so much so that he made very
tine promises at the time."t
When the ambassador took leave, he received most
* Y en verdad que era por quebrantar las piedras.
t Probably the letter given to Cardinal Santa Croce, mentioned
above. But possibly the queen had sent two different letters,
both addressed to the pope. This conversation is in a letter of
Micer Mai's. Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 973, 974,
975.
I
72 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
satisfactory promises and friendly expressions from
the sovereign pontiff. His example shows that it is
possible to be a skilful diplomatist, and yet to have a
heart. This lofty and Christian language was ad-
dressed to the father of the faithful, not to an ordinary
prince. It was understood and accepted by Clement
VII. No surprise can be felt that, two or three days
afterwards, the English ambassadors, presenting
themselves at the Pontifical Court, were coldly re-
ceived. It was in vain that they made bitter com-
plaints of the breach of promises made to them.
They were answered that they had taken vague
forms of politeness for positive assurances, and that
there had not been much real good faith on their own
side.
73
CHAPTER XIV.
Official Exhibition in Spain of the Original of the Brief of
Dispensation, in the presence of the English Ambassadors
— A Copy of the Document is delivered to them — Wolsey
changes his Policy — He is desirous above all things to
conclude the Business of the Divorce — The Legates' Court
is constituted, and issues Citations to both Parties — The
Emperor's Letter to Catharine — Doubtful Dispositions of
Campeggio — He receives the Queen coldly — First Meeting
of the Ecclesiastical Court — The Parties appear — Solemn
Hearing of June 21st — The Queen throws herself at the
King's Feet, and addresses a Beautiful Protest to him
against the Persecution directed at her — Great Impression
on the Audience — Catharine refuses her Judges, appeals
to the Pope, and retires — The Legates receive and register
her Appeal, but they think it their duty to proceed — As
she refuses to appear again, they declare her contumacious
— Popular Interest on her account — Henry VIII.'s Atti-
tude after Catharine left the Hall.
A MOST important event was taking place in Spain,
just about the time when Micer Mai had the
interesting conversation with the pope mentioned
above.
The King of England's ambassadors to Charles V.,
Doctor Lee and Ghinucci, Bishop of Worcester,
having expressed to Catalayud their desire to see the
74 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
original brief of dispensation sent bj Julius 11. to
Queen Isabella, his majesty the emperor gave orders
for the document to be exhibited to them in presence
of some notaries nominated for the purpose, and
several grandees of Spain.
In this solemn meeting, Nicholas Perrenot, Sieur
de Granvelle, and the chancellor of the empire, ex-
plained how the emperor had done all he could to
preserve friendly relations with his ally, the King of
England, but that this prince had cast doubts upon
the authenticity of the copy of the brief of dispen-
sation of which Queen Catharine had made use, the
original being in the possession of her nephew,
Charles V. Then the Sieur de Granvelle took the
document in his hands, unsealed, opened it, and gave
it to the English ambassadors to read, and to copy,
if they chose.
The ambassadors, visibly embarrassed, refused to
take cognisance, on the pretext that the question
of forgery having been referred to the pope they
did not think themselves authorised to interfere in
the question. On the invitation of the Bishop of
Osma and the Bishop of Elna, Nicholas Perrenot
read the precious document aloud in presence of the
two above-named bishops, Henry, Count of Nassau,
the lord chamberlain of the emperor, the Count de
Pont-de-Vaux, grand-master of the king's house-
hold, the Sieur de La Chaux, prefect of the palace,
and Louis of Flanders, Sieur de Prael.
EXHIBITION OF THE BRIEF. 75
A minute of this meeting was drawn up in Latin
by the notaries, containing a copy of the brief, and
the minute was signed by the witnesses present,
except the English ambassadors. This ought to
have put an end to the miserable quibbles advanced
against the sincerity and fidelity of the copy pre-
sented to the legates by Queen Catharine.*
Charles V". himself wrote to Mendoza that the
English ambassadors, after the meeting, having ask-
ed him to allow them a private examination of the
brief he immediately consented. '' And an authentic
copy of it made, properly revised, and collated with
the original, in order to show that we omit nothing
that is likely to preserve the friendship of their king,
and that, if he will but attend to the letter of the
brief, his scruples will at once vanish.'^ t
Is it credible that the two ambassadors, in their
oflScial correspondence, still found reasons for suspect-
ing the validity of the original document ? |
The king and Wolsey were hugging themselves in
their delusions during these same months of April
and May, whilst the business of the divorce was
taking a different form in Spain, and more especially
in Rome, as we have seen. Communications were
then so slow that all Europe was not living a simul-
taneous life, as is the case now in the days of
railroads and electric telegraphs.
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 967.
t Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 98i.
X Histoire du Divorce, Joachim Legrand, vol. i, p. 20.
76 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Wolsey determined to expedite the trial of the
divorce with great energy. He thought that, in
concert with Carapeggio, he might arrive at a satis-
factory conclusion before the pope could find a suit-
able occasion for interference. He changed his style
of political action towards the Court of Rome. Fresh
instructions were sent to the ambassadors not to
speak to the pope any more of the forgery of the
brief, nor to insist on the propriety of the despatch
of a pontifical agent to Spain to examine the original
document. The object was now no longer to stimu-
late the Court of Rome, but to lull it to sleep, and to
finish the business in London with all possible activity
and speed. It was imagined that, when once judg-
ment was given in England, the pope would accept
it, and do nothing to annoy Henry VHI., to whom he
had always shown great good-will.
In consequence, about the end of May the ecclesi-
astical court for the trial of the divorce suit held a
sitting in the great hall of the palace at Blackfriars
in London, suitably arranged, and richly decorated
for the hearings. Notaries, or clerks, were appoint-
ed, and ushers, to make the court complete, and
oaths were administered to them. By the side of
the judges, to their right, was an arm-chair set for
the king, and on the left another for the queen.
Opposite the judges, within the enclosure of the
court, were seats for the Archbishop of Canterbury
and the other English bishops. Below the king's
THE legates' court. 77
chair were places for the two advisers, Doctor Samp-
son and Doctor Bell, and, below the queen's, for
Clerk, the Bishop of Bath, Standish, Bishop of Saint
Asaph, and Doctor Ridley, a most distinguished
preacher and divine. On the morning of May 31st.
the two legates entered the hall with all the ensigns
of their dignity. Wolsey sat on Campeggio's right ;
and word was given to the Bishop of Lincoln to read
the bull constituting the two legates commissioners
to try the divorce suit.* When he had finished
reading the prelate was desired, by agreement with
Doctor Bell and the Bishop of Bath, to issue citations
to the King and Queen of England to appear before
the court on the 18th of June following.
The die was cast ; the strife, so long conducted
in obscurity, was now brought on the official and
legal platform. Ceremonies of this kind have always
been very attractive to the English nation. But it
must be allowed that this grand judicial assize com-
manded a deeper and keener interest than had
attached to any that had ever been held in London
for many ages, and even, perhaps, in the whole
world.
Catharine was still less informed than Henry VIIL
of the events bearing on her suit that had taken place
at Rome and in Spain. It is true she must have re-
ceived a letter from her nephew, Charles V., dated
* The Bishop of Lincoln was Doctor Longlands, the king's
confessor.
78 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
April 23rd, and concluding thus : " As a case of this
sort must be referred to our Most Holy Father and
his Holy Apostolic See, we have earnestly requested
him not to allow it to be tried elsewhere than at his
Court, inasmuch as your honour, and that of all our
relatives and friends, is deeply concerned in the issue.
You may be sure, most serene queen, our dearest and
most beloved aunt and sister, that I shall not fail in
what I consider to be my duty." * But it is not
known whether this letter had reached the queen in
the month of May. Certainly she did not know that
the protests and petitions mentioned by Charles V.
had been made ; and lastly, Mendoza, who had al-
ways been her faithful support, and kept up her com-
munications with Spain and Rome, being greatly
injured in health by the English climate, had per-
suaded the emperor to recall him, in order to save
his life. The loss of this able and devoted adviser
left a great void for the unhappy Catharine.
Moreover, the lawyers she expected from Flanders
had not arrived. The advisers given her were more
concerned with their fear of displeasing the king
than their client's interests. The queen, keenly feel-
ing her moral isolation, thought she could do no
better than go a second time to see Campeggio, who
was again confined to his bed by the gout.
The cardinal was not very well-disposed to her at
the moment. He was anxious about his own posi-
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 989, 990.
CAMPEGGIO'S COOLNESS. 79
tion, and afraid that lie should make more trouble
for himself if he seemed partial to her, so he carefully
avoided any appeai'ance of it, and did not even give
her spiritual consolation. Perhaps, though he may
have had at the bottom of his heart some compassion
and sympathy for Catharine, he took pains to give it
no externa] expression, and succeeded in concealing
hie feelings. As Bishop of Salisbury, he was under
Henry VIII.'s influence, and feared to get into dis-
grace with him. He felt that his colleague Wolsey
was a vigilant and active spy upon him, and much
more desirous than he was to conclude the business
as soon as possible.
Du Bellay writes about the end of June to M. de
Montmorency, the grand-master of the king's house-
hold, that "Campeggio is half conquered and per-
suaded to shorten the trial for various reasons too
long to give." *
Thus the queen's expectation was disappointed.
The legate was very reserved with her, and almost
discouraging. He told her that she ought to have
full confidence in the counsel the king had given her,
and that, as to her judges, they would do nothing
contrary to reason and justice. Finally, no doubt,
thinking the occasion favourable, he spoke to her
again of entering a religious house, since such a step
would terminate many difficulties, and prevent many
* Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. iii, p. 2544. Histoire
du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 334.
80 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
troubles both in church and state. Thus Campeggio
was plainly unaware of the answer given a short
time before by the canonists of Rome to Vannes, the
English ambassador.*
Notwithstanding the moral pressure put upon her,
the queen repulsed the cardinal's suggestions as
before. Her Christian devotion, her gentle humility,
were not inconsistent with an impregnable Spanish
tenacity and unbending royal pride ; she never would
voluntarily have yielded her place to the clever
manoeuverer who wished to usurp her rights as wife
and queen. She did not understand this inversion
of any idea of justice, and turn of the cai'ds to make
the king's mistress a legitimate wife, and his legiti-
mate wife a concubine.
And so Campeggio, after his conference with the
queen, could not help praising her sincerity, her
firmness, and greatness of soul. However, the car-
dinal lamented that he had no news from the Court
of Rome, that he did not receive supplies of money,
and that he was obliged to get into debt or to
borrow of Henry VHI.*
Perhaps he did not know that protests and peti-
tions in full form had been pi-esented to the pope at
Rome, about the end of April, against the King of
* See above the quotation of the answer given by the pope to
Vannes, by which it appears that Henry VIII. would not have
been able to marry even if Catharine had gone into a convent,
and taken the vows.
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, voL iv, p. cccclxx.
DU BELL ay's LETTERS. 81
England's project of a divorce, and making formal
demand to the pope for the transfer of the suit to
the Court of Rome.*
And yet the French ambassador, Du Bellay, seemed
well informed of what had passed at the Papal Court.
If he did not know positively, he at least suspected ;
for, being a zealous partisan of Henry VIII.'s, in his
diplomatic correspondence of the month of June he
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 990, 991. The pro-
test presented by the imperial ambassadors to the pope, D.
Michael Maius, Knight of Barcelona, the emperor's ambassador
at Rome, and D. Andreas de Burgo, Count Castelleoni, also am-
bassador from the King of Bohemia and Hungary, Ajchduke of
Austria, &c., in the presence of the undersigned notary and wit-
nesses summoned for the purpose, drew out and presented to
[Pope Clement VII.] in behalf and in the name of their respective
sovereigns, the following protest, requisition, intimation, &c. : —
" Go on to state the futility of the reason alledged for the divorce.
Beg the pope to have the case adjudicated to his Court, since,
were it to be tried in England, Queen Catharine would never
obtain justice. Acta fuerunt haec Romae, in palatio apostolico, in
camera sanctissimi D. N. Papse, prsesentibus ibidem magnificis et
nobilibus viris dominis Jacobo de Salviatis, Patricio Florentino, et
Gasparo Maradat Valentino, milite militse Sancti Jacobi de Spata,
testibus ad prsemissa vocatis et rogatis. Notarius Alfonsus de
Cuevas Caes. sacerdos et sollicitor." (Latin, nine pages.)
Petition presented to the pope by the imperial ambassadors
r^pecting the divorce case : —
" At Rome, on Tuesday, the 27th of April, Richard Mai, knight,
doctor in law and theology, and Andrea de Burgo, Count of
Castel Leone (comes castrileonis), councillor and orator to his
Serene Highness Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia,
humbly petition His Holiness the Pope [Clement VII. J to summon
(advocare) the divorce case to be tried at his Pajial Court. Rome,
27th of April, 1529." (Latin, one and a half pages.)
VOL. II. G
82 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
displays great anxiety. He is especially the echo of
Wolsey, and thus speaks of him :
" I assure you, sir,* that, without fiction, the legate
is in terrible trouble, for all along till now he has
always assured his master, both in public and private,
that this would be nothing, and that nothing, what-
ever would be done without them. Now he strongly
suspects the contrary ; I leave you to imagine whether
he speaks kindly to me, and plainly says that I have
deceived him, &c.," and, further on, " You will see by
the king's letters what condition they are in about
this divorce ; all the help they ask of you is for the
pope not to revoke his commission."
Wolsey was therefore especially afraid of this
revocation ; the cardinal had, some time before, con-
fided to Du Bellay that he had been desirous of cool-
ing down the king's passion, and his eagerness for
divorce, and the king had answered him with terrible
language.!
Now, as the decisive moment approached, Du
Bellay sent messenger after messenger to the Court
of France, for he says, " There are people of the Duke
of Suffolk's in all the posts, who would not fail to
* Histoire du Divorce, Joachim Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 328, 329.
The letter is addressed, as usual, to the grand master of the king's
household, M. de Montmorency.
f These are Du Bellay 's exact expressions, " Le roi lui usa de
terribles termes k cause qu'il semblait Ten vouloir refroidir et lui
monstrer que le peuple n'y voudrait condescendre." Histoire du
Divorce, vol. iii, pp. 164, 165.
CITATION TO APPEAR. . 83
\\e 80 good a chance ; the cardinal gave me a pretty-
clear hint, and I find one despatch has been lost since
I have been here, and I am sorry for it."*
And yet this is a partisan of the government of
Henry VIII. and the English policy, who is so dis-
trustful, and complains of what we should now call
the black chamber.
In a subsequent letter in cipher he sends informa-
tion to Francis I. that Wolsey begs him *' very
humbly and affectionately to write a line to Cardinal
Campeggio, begging him to hasten the business." f
I doubt whether this curious commission was carried
to his credit at the French Court ; but it shows
that Wolsey was extremely anxious, and that he
wanted to clutch at every straw.
The fact is that the business of the divorce was
just about to undergo a great change, but in a direc-
tion entirely contrary to the hopes of the Cardinal of
York.
Nevertheless there seemed slight reason for the
feeling of distrust Wolsey felt for his colleague, for
Campeggio took a serious view of his office of judge.
He also seemed as if he would like to conclude
matters as soon as possible.
The citation to appear before the legates had been
served on the 1st of June upon the king and queen
in their private apartments at Windsor for the 18th
* Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii, p. 330. Me fandraient.
t Page 335.
g2
84 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
of the month, and it was presented to them by
Longlands, Bishop of Lincoln, and Clerk, Bishop
of Bath. On the appointed day the court met. The
king did not appear in person on this occasion, but
was represented by his proctors, Doctor John Bell
and Doctor Sampson,* dean of the chapel royal. As
to the queen, she attended in person. She protested
against the competence and jurisdiction of the Court,
and, having read her protest aloud, demanded that it
should be placed on the record, and a minute given
to her. The legates acceded to her demand, and
appointed for her to appear on the 21st of June
following, the day which the Court named for its*
second sitting. Then, remembering that the law
required the personal appearance of both parties,
under pain of being treated as contumacious, they
announced that, at the next sitting, they would
give a decision on their competence and the regu-
larity of their proceedings.
In consequence, the two parties appeared on the
2 let of June, between nine and ten in the morning.
The queen entered first, and was almost immediate-
ly followed by the king. He occupied the throne, or
chair, on the right of the legates ; Catharine sat on
the left, her seat being a little lower than the other.
As soon as the hearing commenced, the king, turn-
ing to the judges, made them a short address, ex-
pressing his firm resolution to cease to live in mortal
* Afterwards Bishops of Chichester and Worcester.
• CATHARINE'S APPEAL. 85
ein, as he had done for twenty years. He said he
could not feel easy in his conscience until a decision
had been come to as to the lawfulness or unlawful-
ness of his marriage, and so he demanded that judg-
ment should be given with all speed. Then Wolsey
spoke, and said that, although he was loaded with
benefits from the king, and might therefore be
suspected of partiality, the moment he received a
commission from the sovereign pontiff he would
judge according to his " poor ability," but perfectly
conscientiously, and that he would omit no require-
ment of justice. The two legates gave a decision
rejecting the queen's appeal to Rome. But Catha-
rine declared that she would renew the appeal, and
persist in it ; and then she went and kneeled at the
king's feet, and cried to him for mercy and justice in
a voice broken by emotion. She said she was only
a poor foreign woman, away from her parents,
friends, and all help ; and she called God to
witness that, for twenty years of married life, she
had been always his obedient, faithful, and devoted
wife: that he knew; and she appealed to himself
that she was a virgin when she was married to him.
That, if what she said was untrue, she was ready
to suffer infamy. What had she done, to be re-
pudiated and branded, and the stain of dishonour
extended to her parents, and children, and her whole
family ? That she had suspicions of all around her,
the judges, and even her advisers, as they were the
86 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
king's subjects, and had received benefits and favours
from him. She stated that her desire was the
recognition and confirmation of the validity of her
marriage ; but that she wished this judgment to
come from Rome, and that she appealed to Rome.
That was the only place where the suit could be
judged without any suspicion of favour or partiality.
She demanded that her appeal should be sent to the
pope; and also to be freed from every restraint
and able to correspond in perfect freedom with Rome
and the emperor.*
* Burnet, who often contests or denies the most authentic
facts when they contradict his preconceived ideas, has called
this scene fabulous, though it is attested by several contempor-
aries, and among them Wolsey*s own secretary, Cavendish, who
was, apparently, likely to be well informed. But this will remove
every doubt, if there is any still existing. Mr. Stephenson, a
man of great learning, has just discovered, at the Vatican, two
letters in cipher, addressed to Salviati at Rome by Campeggio
himself.
The last is dated June 2l8t, 1529, and was probably written
as soon as the sitting was over. The cardinal says that, on the
18th of June, " comparse la reuia personalmente, interposuit
appellationem in formS, recurso li judici, cum insertionibus cau-
sarum deduxit avocationem causae ad curiam et sic litis penden-
tiam, protestb de nullitate omniiun agendorum. Li demo termine
ad primam che e stato hoggi alle vinterio, ad audiendam volunta-
tern nostram super deductis ab ea, et cosi hoggi si k pronuntiato
nos esse judices competentes, rejectis omnibus ab e§ deductis.
Lei ha interposto una amplissima appellatione et supplicationem
ad Pontificem et recessit ; ma primk ibi corkm tribunal! genuflexa,
benche il re due volte la soUevasse demando licentia al re che por
trattarsi del honore et conscienti<\ sua e della casa di Spagna, le
volessi concedere Ubero adito di scnvere e mandare messi k [Cesare]
ru (et) a quesi (Sua Santita) ru (et) sogle (se gli 1) la concessero,
THE QUEEN RETIRES. 87
While she spoke thus, the king twice tried to raise
her, and twice she fell again upon her knees ; and,
when she had done, she did not return to her seat, but
bowed to the king and the Court, and left the hall
leaning on the arm of her Receiver-General, Griffith.*
The king, seeing her depart, commanded that she
should be called again. Then the crier of the Court
called, "Catharine, Queen of England, come into
Court !" With that quoth Master Griffith, " Madam,
ye be called again." " On, sir," quoth she, " it
maketh no matter, for it is no indifferent Court for
me ; therefore I will not tarry." And she left the
hall without making any reply, either then or after-
wards ; for she would not again appear before the
legates' Court.f
cosi credo, mandarh. con copia di tulto qiiella si h flatta, per che
habbiamo deliberate che de omnibus ad ejus petitionem gli sia dato
copia." Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, ap-
pendix, pp. dclxxi, ii. No doubt the scene and the queen's speech
are condensed in this letter, half Latin, half Italian. Campeggio,
who did not understand English very well, may not have been
able to catch all Catharine's words, spoken, as a contemporary
says, in broken English; but all the chief points of Cavendish's
account are found in the cardinal's, and there are some other
points added that are left out by Cavendish and the other
chroniclers.
* Griffin Richardes, Receiver- General to the queen, has himself
left a record of these events, and is the " honest chronicler " most
quoted by Shakespeare in the scene of the play of Henry VIII.
where he presents Catharine of Aragon spealcing so nobly, and
indeed had only to repeat her language accurately to be sublime.
f Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp.
cccclxxii, iii. Lingard, vol. vi, p. 150. Miss Strickland, vol. iv,
p. 130, edition, 1842. (Ed.)
88 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
The judges caused her to be summoned three
times by the crier, and, as she did not appear, pro-
nounced her contumacious. While they rejected her
appeal as groundless, they did not refuse her a mi-
nute of all that had passed at this hearing to make
any use of that she pleased.
The two parties were cited to appear again on
Friday, June 25. As Catharine was on her way
from Baynard's Castle,* where she lived, to the
Palace of Blackfriars, the women, as she passed, en-
couraged her, and shouted to her to care for nothing.
" If the matter was to be decided by the women, the
king would lose the battle," says Du Bellay, with
some spite, and then he adds, ironically, " She recom-
mended herself to these good prayers, with other
Spanish tricks." f
According to Cavendish, after Catharine was gone,
the king, perhaps agreeing with the general feeling,
could not help speaking aloud in her favour. " She
is, my lords, as true, as obedient, and as conformable
a wife as I could in my phantasy wish or desire.
She hath all the virtuous qualities that ought to be
in a woman of her dignity, or in any other of baser
estate. Surely she is also a noble woman born, if
nothing were in her ; but only her conditions will
well declare the same."
It may be observed that he did not contradict
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccclvi.
t Letters and Papers, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. iii, p. 2226.
henry's inconsistency. 89
certain private matters that might have a bearing on
the state of the question* on which Catharine had
appealed to his own evidence.
It might have been expected that these expressions
of respect for the queen's character would have been
accompanied by some marks of sympathy and pity ;
but that was not the case. At Blackfriars Henry
had seen his noble wife kneeling at his feet ; he went
from there to Greenwich, to throw himself at the feet
of his mistress, Anne Boleyn.
* HiUlam, who did not know of Campeggio's letter, yet allowed
that Cavendish's account was quite correct ; it also seemed to him
to be supported by a letter of Henry VIII.'s own, printed at the
end of the first volume of Burnet's History of the Reformation,
Appendix, p. 78. He observes, with his usual impartiality, that
Catharine's appeal made to Henry himself, de integritate corporis
usque ad secundas nuptias servata, not being contradicted by
Henry, is a decisive argument in favour of the truth of the queen's
statement. Last note to vol. i. of the Constitutional History of
England.
90
CHAPTER XV.
Campeggio's Embarrassment — Henry VIII. declares that
Wolsey was not the first Suggestor of the Divorce — Ap-
pearance of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and his bold
Address to the Legates — General Surprise in Court, and
and great Impression without — Henry VIII.'s Anger, and
his Pamphlet in answer to Fisher — His Revenge nursed for
another time — Opposing Petitions of the English and Im-
perial Agents before the Pope — Campeggio's Correspond-
ence with Rome stopped for some time by the English
Ofiicers — Casale informs Henry VIH. that the Pope has
determined to transfer the Trial of the Divorce Suit to
Rome — At Henry's desire the two Legates make another
Attempt to persuade Catharine, but they find her just as
resolute — The Legates hold another Judicial Sitting on
July 23rd, and adjourn the case till after the Vacation —
Altercation of Wolsey and the Duke of Suffolk — A Fort-
night after this last Hearing, the Bull of Revocation was
published in London.
THOUGH Campeggio was much shaken by the
pathetic scene he had witnessed, he wrote to
Salviati that he could not refuse the wish of his
colleague Wolsey, who begged him to write and re-
quest that the queen's appeal might not be received,
or the case revoked to Rome. That he quite under-
stood His Holiness's intentions, who did not wish
wolsey's uneasiness. 91
judgment to be given even in the fii'st instance ; but
the suit made progress, and perhaps they would be
constrained by the force of circumstances to give
sentence, unless the pope did something decided.
Besides, they would know that in case he refused to
give judgment, or was unable to sit, through the
state of his health, there was a provision in the bull
for the appointment of another judge. So his dif-
ficulty may be imagined, and he calls God to help
him. He adds that the king seemed as if he would
not make peace till his marriage was dissolved ; and
he has also but little confidence in France, as that
alliance does not seem to be depended on.*
Wolsey, himself uneasy at the general expression
of opinion in favour of the queen, seemed desirous of
evading the responsibility of having been the first to
suggest this fatal suit ; for, before the rising of the
court on June 21st, he made this remarkable speech
to the king. " Sire, I most humbly beseech your
highness to declare now, before all this audience,
whether I have been the chief inventor and first
mover of this matter with your majesty ; for I am
greatly suspected of all men herein." " My lord
cardinal," quoth the king, " I can well excuse you
herein. Marry, ye have been rather against me in
attempting or setting forth thereof." Then he entered
* This is the end of the letter quoted iu note to preceding
chapter. Appendix to introduction, Brewer, Letters and Des-
patches, vol. iv.
^2 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
again upon the old story of his scruples about his
marriage with his brother's wife ; it was a way of
explaining his conduct, but the hypocritical explana-
tion was not accepted by the public.
On the 25th of June the court met again, to take the
king's oath respecting the propositions, and adjourn-
ed to the 28th, though opposed by Campeggio, who
thought these hearings were so near together and so
frequent that they did not leave the judges time
enough to study the questions that arose, and to
deliberate on the evidence at each hearing.
This of the 28th was marked by an episode as
striking of its kind as the last appearance of the
queen. Just as Catharine^s absence and contumacy
were being again recorded, Fisher, Bishop of Roches-
ter, advanced to the bar and asked leave to speak.
The appearance of this aged man was in itself an
event. It was well known that Fisher lived in re-
tirement in his episcopal palace at Rochester, and
hardly ever left it for anything but his diocesan
duties, that he had arranged a kind of anchorite's cell
there, and lived alone in it, with his books and in-
struments of mortification. He was regarded as a
saint worthy of primitive times, a kind of renewal of
one of the rude hermits of the East, or of one of the
noble bishops who sometimes appeared at the eflfem-
inate Byzantine Court, like a living and open rebuke.
Before he had spoken a single word, a thrill of expec-
tation ran through the spectators. All understood
fisher's PROTEST. 9^
that he had not come there to flatter Henry VIII.,
that the king before whom all had hitherto bent was
at last to encounter a champion of the right wha
would meet him face to face.
Fisher did not disappoint the expectation so keen-
ly excited by his presence. He advanced with dig-
nity, and said, in a loud voice expressive of great
but repressed feeling, " That in a former audience he
had heard the king's majesty discuss the cause, and
testify before all men that his only desire was to
have justice done, and to relieve himself of the
scruple which he had on his conscience, inviting
both the judges and everybody else to throw light
on the investigation of the cause, because he found
his mind much troubled and perplexed. At the time
of this offer and command of the king, he had forborne
to come forward and manifest what he had dis-
covered in this matter after two j/ears of diligent
study ; but now, to avoid the damnation of his soul,
and to show himself not unfaithful to the king, or
neglectful of the duty which he owed to the truth in
a cause of such importance, he presented himself
before their reverend lordships to assert and demon-
strate with cogent reasons that this marriage of the
king and queen could not be dissolved by any power
divine or human. He declared that, in maintenance
of this opinion, he was willing to lay down his life,
adding that, as John the Baptist, in olden times, re-
garded it as impossible to die more gloriously than
^4 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
in a cause of matrimony, and it was not so holy then
as it has now become, by the shedding of Christ's
blood, he could not encourage himself more ardentl}'-,
more effectually, or face any extreme peril with
greater confidence than by taking the Baptist for
his own example. He used many other suitable
words, and at the end presented them with a book
which he had written on the subject." *
After him, Standish, Bishop of Saint Asaph, presi-
dent of the queen's official advisers, spoke in the same
sense, but without so much force, warmth, or elo-
quence. Lastly, Ridley, Dean of the Arches, handled
the question from the point of canon law, and arrived
at the same conclusion. Wolsey expressed his sur-
prise at what he called an unexpected attack upon
the legates. He allowed, on the observations made
to him, that they ought to hear everything relating
to the cause in which they had to administer justice,
and prayed the divine wisdom to guide them in the
path of truth and equity, and said that the Bishop of
Rochester had no need to express himself in such a
decisive manner on the root of the question ; he had
not to judge the suit.
Wolsey's protest did not efface the great sensa-
tion produced by Fisher's speech. After his last
words the hearei'S had seemed in a sort of way stupe-
fied, but that was soon followed by an expression
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp.
cccclxxvi, vii, pt. iii, pp. 2538, 2359.
henry's annoyance. 95
of admiration for this noble man, whose energy pre-
sented such a strange contrast with the meanness of
all the Court prelates, who had been bought over to
the side of Henry VIII.
The impression made by Fisher's discourse was
not confined to the interior of the Palace of Black-
friars; it spread rapidly among the population of
London and England, and, a little later, to the
Courts of France, Spain, and Rome, informed by
their agents of this quite unexpected testimony by
a true bishop in favour of Queen Catharine.
Henry VHI. was excessively annoyed at this power-
ful voice, the first raised amid the general silence in
opposition to the divorce desired by the king. He
had not chosen to condescend to a personal alter-
cation with Fisher before the legates' court, but he
instantly took to his pen, and in a few weeks com-
posed a written reply to Fisher, full of bitter sar-
casms against that noble bishop; he sent him one
copy,* and forwarded another of this specimen of
defence to the legates, the judges of his suit. The
king says in this curious pamphlet :
" It is true that men sometimes fail, even the wisest,
in their projects ; but I never thought, judges, to
see the Bishop of Rochester taking upon himself the
task of accusing me before your tribunal — an ac-
cusation more befitting the malice of a disaffected
subject, and the unruly passions of a seditious mob,
* The copy has been found with annotations of Fisher's own.
96 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
than the character and station of a bishop. I had
certainly explained this to Rochester some months
ago " (Fisher, in the margin, nearly a year ago), " and
not once only, that these scruples of mine respecting
my marriage had not been studiously raked up or
causelessly invented. Until the present time Roch-
ester approved of them, and thought them so grave
and so momentous that, without consulting the pope
respecting them, he did not think I could recover
my tranquillity of mind." (Fisher, in the margin, 1 did
not say so ; hut the cardinal would have been glad if I
had said so.) " When the pope, moved by the judg-
ment of his cardinals and others, considered that the
reasons urged were sufficient, and the doubts were
such as were worthy the consideration of the ablest
judges — when he left the whole decision of the cause
to your religious determination, and sent you Cam-
peggio here, at great expense, for no other purpose
than to decide this cause, — what are we to suppose
could have instigated Rochester, or by what spirit,
let me ask you, could he have been inspired to press
forward thus impudently, and thus unseasonably de-
clare his opinion after keeping silent many months,''
(Fisher, I was obliged to this by the protestation of the
king and the cardinal)^ " and not until now declare
his mind in this full consistory. Had he been con-
sistent, he would not have attributed to mere logical
subtleties and rhetorical refinements those scruples
of my conscience which he once admitted I had
THE king's pamphlet. 97
rightly entertained. If, after a study of many years,
he had clearly discovered what was just, true, and
lawful in this most weighty cause, he should have
admonished me privately again and again, and not
have publicly announced, with such boldness and
self-assertion, the burthensome reproaches of my con-
science. Two most pernicious councillors have taken
possession of him, and agitate all his thoughts,
unbridled arrogance and overweening temerity.
What is the meaning of that comparison of his,
in which he endeavours to assimilate his own cause
w^tih that of John the Baptist, unless he held the
opinion that 1 was acting like Herod, or attempting
some outrage like that of Herod ? Whatever Fisher
may think of me, I have never been guilty of such
cruelty." *
After this introduction, the whole of which we
have not given, Henry touched on the principle of
the question, and tried to prove that an impediment,
according to the divine law, could not have been
removed by the pope's authority.
Why was it that Henry, so impatient of all op-
position, so imperious, so despotic, was contented
with this verbal contest, when it was in his own
power to drown his adversary's arguments in blood ?
He knew very well that he could find, among the
penal statutes for high treason, passed in the time of
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp.
cccclxxxii, iii.
VOL. II. H
98 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the civil wars between York and Lancaster, weapons
enough to punish and crush the Bishop of Rochester.
But the divorce suit was going on ; he was very-
anxious it should be tried in London, at least in the
first instance ; so this was not the moment to give
prominence to the antagonism existing between the
statutory right created by his predecessors and the
canon law of the church.* Just for the sake of his
cause he would not bring these rival laws into con-
flict. Henry likewise still shrank back before the
populai'ity of the queen and her defenders. How-
ever, the offence that Fisher had given him, none the
less remained graven deep in his heart. The hour
of vengeance, and an atrocious vengeance, was to
come later.
So Henry VHL for the present confined himself
to urging the decision of the suit ; but Campeggio,
who had seemed hitherto to incline to his side, and
to be desirous of hastening the despatch of the
business, appeared all at once to take fright at its
over-rapid progress. It might be supposed that his
courage had revived at the sight of the example set
by the Bishop of Rochester, and that he had gone
over to the opposition from the very day he had
heard the eloquent speech.
* That is as if in France, under Henry IV. and Louis XIII.,
the ordinances of Philip the Fair, the jurisprudence of the
parliaments, and the treatises of Dupuy and Python on the
alleged freedom of the Gallican Church had been raised in
opposition to the Council of Trent and canon law.
CAMPEGGIO'S UNWILLINGNESS. 99
He writes to Salviati, on June 29th : " They are
proceeding with inconceivable anxiety in the king's
case, and expect to come to the end of it within
twenty days." About a fortnight afterwards, that is
on July 13th, he writes again : " By my letters I in-
formed you in what state this cause then stood, and
how it was proceeding with much celerity and more
urgency. We have since progressed in the same
manner, with great strides, till this day always faster
than a trot, so that some expect a sentence within
ten days ; and although we have many things to do,
writings, allegations, and processes to see and ex-
amine, yet such is their speed and diligence that
nothing is sufficient to procure us a moment's breath-
ing time. It is impossible for me not to declare my
opinion, and what seems to me most convenient, but
it is of little avail. 1 will not fail in my duty and
office, nor rashly nor willingly give cause of offence
to anyone. When I pronounce sentence 1 will keep
God before my eyes, and the honour of the Holy See."*
Du Bellay himself had thought Campeggio half
won, but now he saw that there was a change.
" On Monday (19th July) matters were almost as the
king wishes, and the judges were deliberating about
giving sentence the Monday following. I think he
(Campeggio) is inclined to remit the matter to the
pope."
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp.
cccclxxxiv, V.
h2
100 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
All this month of July no time had been lost hj
the legates. The 5th, the 9th, the 12th, the 16th,
and the 19th, they had carefully examined the evi-
dence collected on the circumstances attending the
marriage with Arthur, and preceding the marriage
with Henry VIII.* One of the witnesses declared
he heard Prince Arthur say " That night I went to
Spain." This was no contradiction at all to what
the queen herself had told Campeggio. It was then
also that the old Doctor Fox, Bishop of Winchester,
who had baptised Henry VIII., made his celebrated
deposition. Great importance was attached to a pro-
test of Henry, then Prince of Wales, as far back as
1505, against the kind of betrothal he had figured in,
as if it could destroy the effect of the dispensation of
Julius II. But this protest, which had been only a
device of Henry VII. to alarm King Ferdinand, so
as to get better terms out of him, the young bride-
groom, according to Fox, had not even read ; he was
not present at the signing of the document, and
Catharine was not informed of it. Four more years
had passed before this marriage took place, the sub-
ject of such strange contention between two powerful
kings ; but the young Henry, Prince of Wales, had
* It was not the legates themselves who took the depositions.
Fox was questioned by Doctor Taylor, Archdeacon of Bucking-
ham. Other witnesses were examined by Doctor Wolman. The
legates had the minutes of evidence read to them.
MAl'S UIIGENOT. 101
never ceased to aspire to the hand of the Spanish
princess, and she, having worn mourning for her first
husband two years, had resumed her virgin white
garments.*
Thus the result of the inquiry had been mostly in
the queen's favour.
Meanwhile Micer Mai and the Spanish agents had
not ceased to make the most urgent demands on the
pope to transfer the cause to Rome. They succeeded
against the opposition of the English ambassadors,
and Mai wrote triumphantly to the emperor on
July 13th :
" The cause is now safe, thank God, and all that
has been done in England will be now annulled. Six
duplicates of the acts will be transmitted, two to be
set up in Flanders, one at Bruges and Dunkirk, the
rest transmitted to the queen, or to whomsoever it
may be thought best. The pope has written to
Oampeggio, but he has behaved so badly in this
matter that nothing could have been worse." f
* See in the Histoire de Henri VHI., of Audin, the text of
Doctor Fox's deposition, at the end of the authorities in the first
volume, and a very curious extract from a little work written in
Italian, by De Rossi, who was at Rome at the time of the divorce ;
this work is entitled, Argvunenta Causae ; speaking of Catharine and
Henry VIII., " Anzi confessb U medesimo Arrigo h Carlo V., in
una sua lettera d'averla avuta vergine," Argumenta Causre, vol. i,
pp. 49, 55. It is to be observed that Henry VIII. himself never
said the contrary,
t Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccclxxxix.
102 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Two or three days afterwards Casale sent the same
information to the King of England in a tone of the
greatest consternation.*
Doctor Bennett had left England about the end of
May to endeavour by all means to prevent such a
conclusion, but his efforts, as well as those of Casale
and Vaux, had been useless. He had told the pope
that the revocation of the divorce suit to Eome
would entail not only Wolsey's fall, who had always
been so faithful to him, but also the destruction of
the Catholic Church in England. Clement VII. re-
plied, shedding tears, that no one saw more plainly
than he did the fearful troubles that would arise
from this ; but how could they be exorcised, or
prevented ? Was he to sacrifice his conscience and
dishonour the Apostolic See to do a pleasure to their
king? The queen had written to him about the
matter, and she certainly had the right of appeal
to the tribunal of the sovereign pontiff.
Bennett, for his colleagues in the embassy, then
wrote to Wolsey ; '' Seeing that we could obtain no-
thing from him, we consulted among ourselves how
the evocation might be delayed until you (Wolsey)
had concluded the cause in England. We can do no
more. The king must now decide whether it will
♦ This is the fragment of his letter, dated July 15th. "El
papa a rivocato la causa del re nostro ; so che cosa al mundo non
poteva di piu dispiacere a S: Maestk, massime essendo fat to ad
instantia del Imperatore, e in questa dichiarazione con el papa."
Authorities, J. Legrand, Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii, p. 316.
CLEMENT'S DIFFICULTIES. 103
be better to suspend the process, or proceed to
sentence before the evocation." *
To keep the pope in ignorance, Bennett had desir-
ed that Campeggio's letters should be stopped in
England, in which he had made complaints to Rome
of the precipitation with which the divorce suit was
pushed along. They were also doing all they could
to influence Clement to defer the signature and
publication of the brief of evocation. But the pope
knew, through the Regent of Flanders, Margaret, of
the desperate struggle Catharine was keeping up
for her own and her daughter's honour. On another
side, the imperialists were every day besieging the
Vatican with complaints at His Holiness letting the
trial go on in England, contrary to agreement, and
threatening from Charles V. that, if the promises
were broken, he would seek another remedy.
Thus Clement VII. was dragged in opposite direc-
tions by two equally imperious kings. He lamented
over the cruel situation in which he was placed, and
said that he would be glad to die.
Wolsey had approved of the plan and measures of
Doctor Bennett ; but Campeggio, astonished at get-
ting no reply from Rome to his communications,
opposing an energetic resistance to his colleague^s
wishes, and desiring to wait for more exact informa-
tion, kept on adjourning the Court till the end of
July. His resolution, very firmly expressed on this
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, voL iv, pp. ccccxci, ii.
104 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
point, was contrary to Wolsey's desire that the judg-
ment should be given at once. So the dissension
between the two legates became more pronounced.
Besides, Campeggio had at last learnt that the
principle of evocation had been decided by the pope,
and he wanted fresh instructions. He asked whether
he was to keep the brief of evocation in his own
hands when it reached him, or immediately com-
municate it to the king ; he wanted to know what
method of proceeding should be adopted in putting
this brief in execution ; whether the king was to be
cited to appear in person at the Court of Rome,
under pain of excommunication, or if he could send
an agent, under power of attorney, to represent him.
And, if this last supposition was right, would the
proud Henry VHI. consent to be cited to appear
before a foreign Court, like an ordinary private
individual.
For twenty years of his reign that king had
never met with any obstacle to the execution of his
will, or even serious opposition to his wishes ; and
he was surprised and indignant at the difficulties he
encountered, both at Rome and in his own kingdom.
He claimed to have been the protector of the
Church from the infection of Lutheranism by his
writings, and he thought that from that time, of
course, the Church ought to be at his feet.
Before the last sitting to be held by the legates'
Court, the king sent Lord Rochford to Wolsey, to
wolsey's imprudence. 105
induce him to pay a visit to the queen, to endeavour
to induce her by friendly means to renounce the
evocation of her cause, and the appeal to Kome.
Rochford performed his commission without any
delay. The cardinal did not conceal from Anne
Boleyn's father that he expected but little success
from this expedient, but that he would do as Henry
VIII. wished. "But," he observed to Lord Roch-
ford, " that he and the other lords of the council had
put the fantasy into the head of the king, whereby
they would give much trouble to the realm, but
small the thank either from God or the world." *
When Wolsey let slip this imprudent speech, fated
to be remembered by Anne Boleyn, he showed him-
self an example that the best diplomatists may forget
themselves in a moment of ill-temper. And we may
also conclude that the share he had undertaken in
the business of the divorce, had not been determined
by real convictions on the root of the matter, but
by reasons of State, and a far distant view of the
rupture of the King of England with the Church.
However this may be, Wolsey, desiring to join Cam-
peggio in the attempt he was going to make,
picked him up when passing his lodging, and they
both went to Bridewell, where the queen was living.
When Catharine was informed of their arrival, she
came out of her chamber to receive them in the hall,
attended by the ladies of the household ; she had a
* Howard, i. c, p, 443.
106 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
skein of white thread about her neck, and showed it
to them, saying these were her occupations, and she
did not think the king could take umbrage. The
legates expressed a desire for a private interview;
and, as she seemed to hesitate, or at least to be in no
haste to comply with their request, Wolsey began to
speak in Latin.
"Nay, good my lord," quoth she, "speak to me
in English, I beseech you, although I understand
Latin."
"Forsooth, then," quoth my lord, "Madam, if it
please your grace, we came both to know your mind,
how ye be disposed to do in this matter between the
king and you, and also to declare secretly our
opinions and our counsel unto you, which we have
intended of very zeal and obedience that we bear to
your grace."
" My lords, I thank you then/' quoth she, " of your
good wills ; but to make answer to your request I
cannot so suddenly, for I was set among my maidens
at work, thinking full little of any such matter,
wherein there needeth a large deliberation and a
better head than mine to make answer to so noble
wise men as ye be. I had need of good counsel in
this case, which toucheth me so near. Alas I my
lords, I am a poor woman lacking both wit and
understanding sufficiently to answer such approved
wise men as ye be both, in so weighty a matter. I
pray you to extend your good and indifferent minds
THE QUEEN AND THE CARDINALS. 107
in your authority unto me, for I am a simple woman,
destitute and barren of friendship and counsel here
in a foreign region ; and, as for your counsel, I will
not refuse, but be glad to hear."
With this she took Wolsey by the hand, and led
him, with the other cardinal, into her privy chamber,
where they had long communication.
" We in the other chamber," says Cavendish,
'' might sometimes hear the queen speak very loud,
but what it was we could not understand."*
Another chronicler says that the queen sharply re-
proached Wolsey, telling him that he might have
stopped the king in the beginning, by plain and de-
cided opposition, before his plans of divorce, born of
a senseless passion, had taken serious form. And
that she treated Campeggio most graciously .f
Next day, July the 23rd, the legatine court sat,
and this was destined to be the last time. On this
occasion the king remained in a gallery adjoining the
hall, whence he could see and hear the judges. All
the proceedings had taken place in Latin, and it was
in that language that the king's advocate demanded
that the final sentence should be given. And in that
language also the president, Campeggio, speaking it
with great facility, stated that the practice of the
Court of Rome was to suspend proceedings of every
* Cavendish, p. 225. Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduc-
tion, vol. iv, pp. ccccxcvi, vii.
t Histoire du Divorce, par J. Legrand, vol. i, pp. 140, 141.
108 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
kind from the end of July to the beginning of October.
There could be no protest against this practice so
authoritatively announced. It seems that Campeggio
had received orders from the pope to follow the prac-
tice of the Court of Rome in every particular, and
entirely to suspend judgment till further orders.
The hearers were evidently disappointed in their
expectations, and were silent in surprise ; some noble-
men present looked so threatening that Campeggio
thought it well to add a few words to this announce-
ment of the adjournment of the debate. He said
that no consideration would make him deviate from
the path of duty ; that he was too old, and too weak,
and too infirm, to desire the favour or fear the re-
sentment of anyone in the world. The queen had
refused the legates as her judges, because they were
subjects of the opposite party. Under such circum-
stances the Court had thought it their duty to sus-
pend its sittings until the sovereign pontiff had
deliberated on these difiiculties, and come to a final
conclusion.
Then the Duke of Suffolk, unable to restrain him-
self, gave a great slap with his hand on the table,
and exclaimed,
" By the mass 1 now I see that the old said saw is
true, that there was never legate nor cardinal that
did good in England."
Cavendish adds that Wolsey, seeing the furious ges-
tures of the duke, calmly replied,
SUSPENSION OF PROCEEDINGS. 10&
" Sir, of all men in this realm, ye have least cause
to dispraise or be offended with cardinals ; for if I,
simple cardinal, had not been, you should have had
at this present no head upon your shoulders, wherein
you should have a tongue to make any such report
in despite of us."
After this vigorous reply he represented to him
that the legates were only the pope's commissioners,
and that, in face of new and unexpected diiBculties*
they ought to have recourse to the sovereign from
whom their commission emanated. *' Pacify your-
self then, my lord, and speak not reproachfully of
your best friend. You know what friendship I have
shown you ; but this is the first time I ever revealed
it, either to my own praise or your dishonour." *
The duke made no reply. Henry VIII. had in-
tended to try the Duke of Suffolk for high treason,
in having disbanded his army before the conclusion
of the peace, contrary to the king's own orders ;
Wolsey had averted the blow.
The king had already retired to his palace of
Bridewell. The Court of the legates was declared
adjourned.f A fortnight afterwards, it was known
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. ir, p. ccccxcviii.
Lingard, vol. iv, p. 153. (Ed.)
t At the sitting before (probably July 19th, Brewer) must
have taken place another altercation between Wolsey and Fisher,
related by Cavendish. Fisher had quoted the well-known axiom,
Quod Deus conjunxit homo non separet. Wolsey answered, " So
much doth all faithful men know as well as you. Yet this reason
110 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
in London that the pope had transferred the suit to
Rome by a brief, dated the previous 18th of July.
This clearly explained the attitude taken by the two
cardinals in their last audience.
is not sufficient in this case ; for the king's council doth allege
clivers presumptions to prove the marriage not good at the begin-
ning. ' Ergo,' say they, ' it was not joined by God at the begin-
ning, and therefore it is not lawful ; for God ordaineth and joineth
nothing without a just order.' " On Doctor Ridley urging, with
some temper, that it was a shame and a dishonour that such pre-
sumptions should be alleged in open Court, and that they were
too detestable for decent ears, "Domine doctor magis reverenter,^^
exclaimed the cardinal. " No, no, my lord," was the reply, " an
unrevered tale would be unreverently answered," Cavendish's
Life of Wolsey, p. 224. Something of the kind must have taken
place during the arguments on the suit ; only Wolsey, according
to this version, had completely the better in the discussion. It
must be remembered that Cavendish was his secretary, and always
most faithful servant.
Ill
CHAPTER XVI.
Position assumed by Henry VIII. after the Divorce Suit
was adjourned by the Legates, and its transfer to Rome —
Cardinal Wolsey out of Favour — Henry treats Wolsey
and Campeggio very differently — But the latter is Ar-
rested at Dover, and shamefully searched — Then set at
Liberty — "Wolsey is disgraced, deprived of the Great
Seal and his Temporal Dignities — He is prosecuted
criminally — His Despair — His humble Supplication to
Henry VIH. — Arraigned before Parliament he is ac-
quitted of Treason, but afterwards condemned for a
Violation of the Statute of Proemunire — Henry pardons
him, and only confiscates a Portion of his Wealth — He is
banished to his Diocese — The exemplary Life he leads
there — ^Watched, and betrayed by his Doctor, he is ar-
rested on a charge of High Treason — He falls ill, and
dies on his Journey to London — His modest Funeral at
Leicester — Henry loses in him a great Minister, and useful
Restraint on his Passions.
MORE quietly than might have been expected did
Henry bear the news of the adjournment of the
suit by the legates' Court, and, a little later, that
of the revocation of the commission given them,
and the transfer of the cause to Rome. The
despatches of his ambassadors announcing their
diplomatic check were also accompanied by a letter
112 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
from the sovereign pontiff to the king, full of courtesy
and good-will.
Henry at first thought that he might win his
cause at Rome as well as in London ; and, in order
to influence the opinion of the consistory, he, by
Wolsey's advice, obtained the opinions of the uni-
versities of France, Italy, Germany, and England.
He would have liked to combine upon his side the
universal suffrage of theological science throughout
Christendom.*
At the same time Clerk, Bishop of Bath, was desir-
ed to act upon the queen's mind, being one of her
official counsel, and induce her to refrain from citing
the king before the consistory of cardinals ; for
Henry VIH. had a repugnance to be forced to ap-
pear in person at the bar of a foreign Court like a
private person. No doubt this susceptibility, as it
may be called, was illogical ; for he had clearly
thought it his duty to obey the citation served on him
in England by the pope's delegates sitting at Black-
friars. So it seems that, after having accepted the
jurisdiction of the representatives of the spiritual
sovereign, he could not refuse that of the sovereign
himself. Besides, in the forum ecclesiasticum, in princi-
ple, earthly dignities count for nothing.
In this matter the prejudices of the English people
were in accordance with those of the king; and, if they
* See chapter xvii, for a detailed account of the request to a
great many universities to hold these doctrinal consultations.
wolset's decline. 113
were not shared, they seemed to be respected by
Catharine. Clerk took pains to make her understand
that a brief of the pope's addressed to the king would
make a judicial citation unnecessary. Clerk, as his
previous conduct shows, tried above everything to
please the king, even at the risk of basely betraying
the interests of his client.
Another complaisant prelate, Gardiner, had been
summoned to Henry at Greenwich as chief secretary
to his majesty. Gardiner, a creature and pupil of
Wolsey, was endeavouring gradually to supplant his
old master. The favour of this great minister sen-
sibly declined.* After the dissolution of the Court
at Blackfriars, the king seemed much more annoyed
with him than with Campeggio for this disappoint-
ment in his suit. He gave the latter some valuable
presents, as marks of his satisfaction at his sei'vices.f
No doubt he thought that the Italian cardinal might
still be of some use to him at Rome. When the two
legates visited Henry at Grafton, Campeggio, who
* Some time before Wolsey was worsted by Anne Boleyu's in-
fluence. He had banished Sir Thomas Chesney from the Court
for a serious personal offence. Chesney procured his recall from
Anne Boleyn, and Henry blamed Wolsey and reprimanded him
harshly.
t But he did not give him money, as Campeggio would have
angrily refused it, as he had done before. See a letter of Du
Bellay of January or February, 1529, Histoire du Divorce. J.
Legrand, vol. iii, p. 299. [Calendar, Brewer, vol. iv, pt. iii, pp
2653 and dxix. There is no reason to believe he received any
presents.] (Ed.)
VOL. II. I
114 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
was to start next day for Kome, was given a splen-
did and hospitable reception. As to Wolsej, he had
at first a mysterious conversation with the king, was
taken into the bay of a window away from the com-
pany, and shown a letter accusing him. There was
no chamber prepared for him in the palace. He had
to lodge in a house near belonging to Mr. Empton,
formerly one of his proteges*
On the next day, September 20, he again had a
conference with the king, and, according to a chroni-
cler (Cavendish), sat with him at the council On
that day he went back to London, as did Campeggio,
after dining with him in the palace at Grafton.
All this time Henry was living with Anne Boleyn,
and she never ceased to malign all the actions of the
statesman whom she sought to ruin, and who did
not hesitate to say that if the Dukes of Suffolk or
Norfolk, or the Earl of Rochford, her father, had
done as much^ their heads would be off their shoul-
ders. Could Wolsey's devotion and great services
much longer outweigh the importunities of a woman
devotedly loved, who, herself being more ambitious
than affectionate, pretended that she would only
give her heart on condition of the sacrifice of the
minister whom she envied and hated ?
Henry also thought he knew that Wolsey had
joined Campeggio in requesting the sovereign to
* See Brewer, Calendar. Introduction, vol. iv, pp. dxv, dxvi,
dxvii, &c. (Ed.)
CAMPEGGIO'S DEPARTURE. 115
transfer a cause that they both found full of danger
and diflSculty, and wished to be rid of at any price,
while in reality the two legates at the same time
were begging the Holy Father to annul Catharine's
marriage by his own authority ; but the king could
not forgive his minister and old favourite for having
thus thrown up the game without warning, and
having contributed to break up the very ecclesias-
tical court which he had so strenuously advocated.
Probably the secret and confidential conversations
mentioned above, referred to the letters written by
Wolsey to the pope on this occasion, and the want
of openness in his conduct.
As for Campeggio, he was in haste to be gone,
and reached Dover without diflSculty ; but there he
did not find the vessel he expected for the passage.
Moreover, very soon after he was installed in his
lodgings near the port, an officer of justice entered
with a troop of archers. He gave himself up for
lost, and threw himself at the feet of his almoner
for confession and absolution. Everything in his
lodgings was turned over, and there was not a place
which they did not search. It was said that they
were looking for treasure, or letters of Wolsey ^s ;
but nothing Avas found. Campeggio had hardly
money enough to pay for his journej'^ ; as for the
bull of decretal, and other papers that might have
compromised himself or the pope, he had entrusted
i2
116 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
them to his son Rodolphe,* who had gone two or
three weeks before him. So, as soon as he recovered
from his first fright, Campeggio, with a good deal of
dignity and boldness, complained of the violation of
the rights of nations in his person, and himself wrote
to the king to demand a reparation proportionate to
the offence.
We have the reply Henry made to his complaints ;
he disapproved and disavowed the rude and clumsy
proceedings of the subaltern agents in performing
their orders, but he told Campeggio that he no
longer recognised him as legate in England, because
his powers had been revoked. The king said he
could see no more in him than a bishop of the king-
dom, who owes respect and fidelity to his sovereign.
And he says afterwards : " You may infer from it
that my subjects are not very well pleased that my
cause has come to no better conclusion. I have
reason to doubt your faith, and the integrity of your
friendship, when your deeds and your professions so
little agree." f
Henry, however, did not oppose Campeggio's de-
* We have mentioned above that Campeggio had been mar-
ried before he became priest and cardinal. This is related at
length by Sigonius in his life of Campeggio.
t October 22nd, Henry VIII. to Campeggio. The letter is
endorsed by Gardiner, and, considering its style and pungency,
was probably his composition. Letters and Papers, Brewer. In-
troduction, vol. iv, p. dxxi, and pt. iii, p. 2077. Perhaps it was
not very politic to thus aUenate a prince of the Church who was
treated so well just before as an attempt to gain him over.
WOLSEY'S ENEMIES. 117
parture, and he took advantage of his liberty to sail
from Dover to Calais, where he could breathe more
freely.
Wolsey was the person on whom the blame was
laid for all that had occurred. We must here recall
that Wolsey had desired to be sent to Cambrai,
where negotiations were in progress for a treaty
between Francis I. and the emperor. As this treaty
was being arranged just at the time of Campeggio's
arrival in England, this proposal was brought up
against him, and it was alleged not to be a purely
patriotic wish, but an excuse for avoiding to sit
as one of the judges of the divorce suit; yet the
event showed that the English interests had been ill
served and almost sacrificed at Cambrai.
Wolsey's enemies — that is to say, the relations
and friends of Lady Anne — were always working
with her to bring about the downfall of the prime
minister ; they accused him again of having kept up
a correspondence with the regent during the war
with France, and of having received splendid pre-
sents from her ; they declared that when the Duke
of Suffolk had retreated from Montdidier to Calais,
instead of marching upon Paris, he was under precise
orders from the cardinal. The fact of the receipt of
presents is undoubted, for Du Bellay, when inter-
ceding with the Court of France in favour of the
minister when disgrace was impending, writes : " As
to the presents, the cardinal hopes that Madame will
118 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
do him no harm when anything is said about it ; ia
everything else he requests her favour." *
As some return to favour seemed to shine upon
Wolsey after an interview he had with the king, Anno
Boleyn made her suitor promise never to see or hear
the cardinal again.f He attended and satfora last time
at a meeting of the council at Westminster, and his
bearing with his colleagues was much more humble,
whilst theirs to him was much more haughty and
disdainful.^ When he afterwards attended to per-
form his usual duties at the Court of Chancery, § the
attorney-general informed him from the king that he
would be prosecuted under the statutes of proemunire
and provision of the sixteenth year of the reign of
Richard II., for having sat in a court of justice in
England as the representative and delegate of the
pope. This indictment involved the forfeiture of all
his property.
Wolsey had obtained the king's licence for this
act ; he might have produced the letters patent he
bad asked for and obtained to that effect, but he
thought it more prudent to submit without murmur
or protest. He wrote a letter to the king acknow-
ledging his guilt — at least, by implication — and
* See Du BeUay's letter, October 17th, 1529. Histoire du
Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 370 et seq. Addressed to the
Marshal de Montmorency, grand master of France.
t Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 375.
X See Hall, p. 760. § October 9th and 20th.
wolsey's depression. 119
humbling himself to ask for favour and mercy, with
ignoble and undignified entreaties.*
It was then, whilst he was under the influence of
his recent disgrace, that his friend, G. du Bellay,
came to see him. The French ambassador was struck
with the moral prostration of this formerly proud
and haughty statesman ; he mentions this impression
in his antique and familiar language.
" Heart and tongue failed him entirely, his face is
already thinner by half ... He begs the king
and madame to take pity upon him. And you may
be sure that his misfortune is such that his enemies,
even though they are English, cannot help pitying
him, and yet they will not give over their pursuit of
him to the very end . . . These lords fancy that,
when he is dead or ruined, they will immediately
dispose of the Church's property, and take all his
goods . . . They mention it aloud." f
Wolsey was banished to Esher, the plainest and
smallest of his country houses. In haste to obey, he
went thither at once, though the weather was bad.
He was overtaken on the road by Norris, a gentleman
of the bed-chamber, bringing a message from the
* The letter concludes thus : " For surely, most gracious king,
the remembrance of my folly, with the sharp sword of your high-
nesses displeasure, hath so penetrate my heart that I cannot but
himibly cry .... and say, Sufficit ; nunc continue, piissime rex,
manum tuam." State Papers, vol. i, p. 347. Letters and Papers,
Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. dxxiii.
t Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol ii, pp. 372, 375.
120 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
king, a letter, and a gold ring. Wolsey got off his
raule and knelt in the mud to receive these unex-
pected marks of kindness. Then, desirous himself of
sending back some token of thankfulness and affec-
tion to Henry VIIL, he took from his neck a golden
cross, in which was set a portion of the true cross,
and then, turning again to Norris, after having said
adieu, he said he was sorry that he could not send
the king a present worthy of him, but, if Norris
would be kind enough to offer his poor fool to the
king, he hoped his majesty would condescend to
accept him, as he certainly was worth a thousand
pounds for a nobleman's amusement. Norris pre-
pared to take the fool along with him. But Caven-
dish reports that Wolsey was obliged to send some
of his yeomen to take the fool to Court by force, as
the poor man became quite desperate when he found
that he had to leave his old master. But he was
taken to the Court, and the king was much pleased
with him.
This poor fool, so faithful to the cardinal's fortunes,
deserved, like the fool in "Lear," a more grateful
master.*
Then Wolsey re-mounted, and went on his way to
banishment somewhat lighter in heart. •
Thenceforward Henry VIII. fell more and more
under the influence of the person who was called his
* Cavendish, Life of Wolsey, pp. 182, 186, 191, and Tytler,
p. 279. His name was Williams, generally called Patch.
CONVICTION UNDER PRCEMUNIRE. 121
night crow* and this influence was fatal to Wolsey,
who never received any further reply to the letters
he addressed to the king. In his lonely house at
Esher, depiived of all the pleasures of life, a prey to
anxiety and most cruel apprehension, he fell seriously
ill. Then Henry's interest in his old servant revived,
at least for the moment; he sent three physicians
to Esher, and, to relieve him from all anxiety, he
persuaded Anne Boleyn to send him her tablets of
gold, with a kind and courteous message.
But Wolsey got better, and, when he was supposed
to be quite well again, an order was given him to
resign all his ecclesiastical benefices to the crown,
except the Archbishopric of York ; out of the revenues
of Winchester he was only allowed a thousand
crowns ; the rest was shared between the Duke of
Norfolk, the Earl of Rochford, and their relations and
friends.
Two different prosecutions were commenced against
• Wolsey, one before the House of Commons for high
treason, the second before the Court of King's Bench
for breach of the statutes of proemunire. On the first
he was acquitted, on the second convicted. His con-
viction entailed political incapacity, and prevented
him from holding any office of State ; it also entailed
the forfeiture of all his property to the treasury.
Wolsey applied to Gardiner to obtain at least a
partial remission of the penalty. This favour was
* See Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p 213. (Ed.)
122 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
shown him, and the king even gave him a release
from a personal debt ; but York House was confiscated,
and all its valuable furniture. This palace was
Church property, and Wolsey had no right to re-
linquish it. However, he consented, that he might
not further irritate Henry.
He soon left Esher and went to Richmond. There
he lived in perfect retirement with the Carthusian
monks, passing his time in prayer and mortification ;
but he was still too near the Court,
Anne Boleyn saw plainly that the king had some
remains of affection for his old servant, and that he
did not accept her continual hostile suggestions un-
reservedly. It was necessary, therefore, that the
cardinal should be kept at a distance, so that he
could not approach the king, or make him hear
plausible excuses, or dangerous recriminations. As
to her, she was always present, keeping a watch for
any errors he might commit, collecting not only his
deeds, but the speeches truly or falsely attributed to
him, and surrounding him with spies and traitors, as
we shall see afterwards. In this underhand, pitiless
warfare she was also assisted by all the councillors
and ministers of the new cabinet, who were jealous
of the superiority of their old rival, and feared that a
return to favour, restoring him to power, would
bring them down again.
Anne, therefore, thought she could not do better
than contrive that Wolsey should be banished to his
BANISHMENT TO YORK. 125
diocese. His enemies did not think that this would
give him the opportunity for a moral restoration,
and some recovery of the popularity he had com-
pletely lost.
As soon as the cardinal was established in his
Archbishopric of York, his time was spent in the
most exemplary manner ; he remembered that he
was, and ought to be, a bishop before everything,
and that he held the cure of souls in his diocese.
He began to make pastoral visitations ; he laboured
to reconcile disunited families, and largely distributed
both moral and spiritual alms.
Henry VHI. had recommended him to the nobility
of the county, and they began to draw towards him ;
the people were grateful to him for his kindness and
charity. Gradually public opinion, even in London,
became less hostile to him. The time might be
predicted when the old minister, who had been
sacrificed to the nation's murmurs like a kind of
scape-goat, would at last regain some popularity.
And more, the interest Henry VIII. had shown in
him, on the occasion of his recent illness, might
revive ; a return to favour was not impossible. But
his implacable enemies were ceaselessly on the watch
to meet this risk ; they had made every preparation
to complete the destruction of the unhappy cardinal,
whom they dreaded, even absent in his diocese.
They had hired as a spy a certain Doctor Augustino,
an Italian physician who had long enjoyed Wolsey's
124 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
confidence, and, while attending him with an appear-
ance of devotion during his last illness, had com-
pletely gained his affection. When Du Bellay
wrote to the Court of France to beg Francis I. to
interfere, as if spontaneously and of himself, and
endeavour to prevent the minister's fall when dis-
grace was already imminent, he also recommended
that this proceeding of his should be kept secret, so
as not to compromise the very man he wished to
serve. At Wolsey's request, he entrusted this mes-
sage to the physician Augustino. At this very
moment this doctor was receiving a hundred pounds
from the Duke of Norfolk for betraying his master's
secrets.* This base wretch kept a journal of Wol-
sey's alleged machinations ; and this treacherous
book, prepared with the greatest care, was intended
to enlighten the government concerning the man
whose life he had only saved to contrive his
destruction.
When Joachim de Vaux replaced Du Bellay as
French ambassador, one of his duties was to en-
deavour to procure the restoration of his ancient
power and dignities to Wolsey. He employed
Augustino in the secret negotiations he set on foot
for that purpose. On the 8th of November De Vaux
wrote to the Marshal de Montmorency that he had
delayed the dispatch of his letter that be might
* Letters and Papers, Brewer* Introduction, voL iv, p. dxcix,
pt. iii, p. 3057.
AUGUSTINO'S TREACHERY. 125
obtain fresh information about the poor cardinal;
the king and the lords of the council he had seen,
had sworn that they had not the least shadow of
suspicion against De Vaux himself, and thought him
a safe man. He says, " As to the cardinal, I fear
there are no hopes. They say that they have many
and grave proofs against him ; and the king has
told me that he has intrigued against his majesty,
both in and out of the kingdom, telling me where
and how, and that one, and perhaps more than one of
his servants have discovered and accused him." *
There can be no doubt that Doctor Augustino
kept the Duke of Norfolk informed of Wolsey's com-
munications with France. These clandestine com-
munications, although innocent in themselves, had
been enough to excite the rage of Henry VHI., who
could not bear the interference of a foreign power
in domestic matters.
Bryan, the ambassador to France, wrote from
Blois to say he had seen Francis I., and that, in
conversation about Wolsey's late arrest, it was said
" the king your brother was of the opinion that he
thought he had well merited his said imprisonment."
To this Bryan replied, " showing him if the particu-
larities which 1 said did chiefly concern presumptu-
ous (presumptive) sinister practices made to the
Court of Rome for reducing him (Wolsey) to his
former estate and dignity, contrary to his allegi-
♦ Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, pp. dxcix, de.
126 CATHAEINE OF ARAGON.
ance . . . . " This fresh accusation was entirely
groundless. But it is none the less true that Francis
said that Wolsey had dishonoured high positions by
exhibiting in them the mean conduct derived from
his birth, and that he deserved severe punishment.*
We are sorry to see the roi chevalier so lightly and
ungenerously abandoning the fallen minister, whom
he had formerly received so graciously, and who had
implored his support with so much discretion and
delicacy. But Henry VlII.'s ingratitude to a states-
man whose whole life had been one course of devo-
tion to his person is still more inexcusable. As for
the king's ministers and councillors, who reproached
that distinguished man with the obscurity of his
birth, they had undoubtedly been born in the high-
est ranks of society, but certainly there was nothing
noble, nothing that was not mean and vile, in the
base means they made use of to ruin their political
opponent. And, after all, it is not to their credit to
repeat the words of Guillaume du Bellay : " The
rulers now are the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk,
the Earl of Rochford, and, above all. Miss Anne." f
There is also a letter from the Spanish ambassa-
dor that throws a vivid but lurid light upon the
situation. " Eight days ago the king gave orders
* Letters and Papers, Brewer. Intr(xluction, vol. iv, pp. dci,
dcii, pt. iii, p. 3029. State Papers, 211.
t Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 377. Letter of
October 22nd.
HARSH PROCEEDINGS. 127
for the cardinal to be brought here .... It is said
he is to be lodged in the same chamber in the Tower
where the Duke of Buckingham was detained ....
A gentleman told me that a short time ago the king
was complaining to his council of something that
was not done according to his liking, and said in a
rage that the cardinal was a better man than any of
them for managing matters ; and, repeating this
twice, he flung himself out of the room. Since then
the duke (of Norfolk), the lady, and her father, have
not ceased to plot against the cardinal, especially
the lady, who does not give over weeping and la-
menting her lost time and her honour, threatening
the king that she will leave him, in such sort that
the king has had much trouble to pacify her ; and
though he prayed her most affectionately, with tears
in his eyes, that she would not speak of leaving him,
nothing would satisfy her but the cardinal's arrest.
It is pretended that he had written to Rome to be
reinstated in his possessions, and to France for its
favour, and was returning to his ancient pomp, and
corrupting the people. But since they have had the
cardinal's physician (Augustine) in their hands, they
have found what they sought for. Since he has
been here, the same physician has lived in the Duke
of Norfolk's house like a prince. He is singing the
tune as they wished him."
Joachim (de Vaux) would not say a word about
it to the Papal nuncio, but he told the Venetian am-
128 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
bassador that, according to ilie confession of the car-
dinaVs physician, the cardinal had solicited the pope
to excommunicate the king, and, if he did not, banish
the lady from Court, and treat the queen with due
respect.*
Further on, the ambassador intimates that there
is another traitor in correspondence with the phy-
sician remaining with the cardinal ; it seems this
was Wolsey's own chaplain. Henry VIII.'s unwor-
thy weakness must be deplored. This imperious
sovereign, making all around him tremble, himself
yielding to a woman and the passion that enslaved
him, and inclined him to sacrifice everything, even
the minister to whose abilities he paid remarkable
and well-deserved homage.
Wolsey himself had no suspicion of the plots
against him ; he was at Cawood, and expected the
chief nobles of the neighbourhood; his invitations
had been sent out.
Without warning, he saw the Earl of Northumber-
land present himself early on the 4th of November.
As soon as the earl was introduced into his chamber,
he laid his hand on his shoulder and said, "My lord,
1 arrest you of high treason." The cardinal was
* Letter of November 27th. Letters and Papers, Brewer. Intro-
duction, vol. iv, p. dciii, pt, iii, p. 3035. See also a despatch of
the Mantuan ambassador. Ven. Calendar, p. 262. These letters
were written about three weeks after Wolsey's arrest and his
physician's, but are now quoted in explanation of the circum-
stances that led to this arrest.
:• ■ wolsey's arrest. 129
quite astonished, and neither spoke a word. At
last Wolsey, breaking silence, asked the earl for his
written commission, and, as he did not produce it,
refused to obey. A moment afterwards there came
to the door Walshe, an oflScer of the king's chamber,
who had just arrested Augustino with some pretence
of using violent language, so that his treachery should
not be suspected. The cardinal surrendered to
Walshe, though neither he could show a regular
commission.
Augustino was at once sent off to London strongly
guarded, and then, as we have said, he found good
entertainment at the Duke of Norfolk's.
As for Wolsey, he was obliged to deliver up the
keys of his boxes and desks to the Earl of Northum-
berland and Walshe. For two days they were en-
gaged in examining his papers and searching the
house ; they refused to tell him the grounds of his
arrest and the charges brought against him.
He easily divined from what hand the blow came ;
he complained bitterly that the king, forgetting his
old services, let himself be led by the hatred and
prejudice of a mistress unworthy of his affection and
confidence. He said that his political enemies were
well aware of his innocence, but had only tried to
find a way to destroy him.
The same evening he was taken to Pomfret in
custody of Sir Roger Lascelles, followed by five of
his own attendants. On the second day after, he
VOL. 11. K
130 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
was received at Sheffield Park with much courtesy
by the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury ; he stayed
there a week, and the earl came several times in the
day to offer consolations to the unhappy prisoner.
Wolsey devoted all his time to pious exercises and
serious preparation for death.
He was only fifty-nine years old, but his constitu-
tion had been undermined by the labours and anxie-
ties of power ; his health had been greatly affected
by the annoyances that had not been spared him
since his disgrace. At this time he was suffering
from an attack of dysentery that seemed to exhaust
what strength he had left.
Henry VHI., under the influence of his passion,
had never felt any return of interest or compassion
for his old servant. He gave him the last blow, by
sending Sir William Kingston, Lieutenant of the
Tower of London, with orders to take the cardinal
to that formidable state-prison. The Earl of Shrews-
bury had made a pretence of writing to the king to
ask him to confront the innocent prisoner with his
accusers, on purpose to relieve the apprehension that
this officer's arrival was likely to produce on Wol-
sey's mind; and he now desired Cavendish to tell
the cardinal that a favourable answer had been
brought him from Henry VHL
But Wolsey suspected that there was some artifice,
and when Master Kingston was announced he said,
"Master Kingston, Master Kingston," and then he
wolsey's illness. 131
understood all. He requested his attendance ; and
when Kingston knelt to beg his blessing, " I pray
jou stand up," said Wolsey ; " kneel not unto a very
wretch, replete with misery, nor worthy to be es-
teemed, as a vile object utterly cast away. Stand
np, or I will myself kneel down by you." And he
made him rise. Kingston tried to re-assure the un-
fortunate prelate, telling him that the king bore him
as much good-will and favour as ever . . . and there
was no doubt he would be able to clear himself from
all accusations. " If I were as able and as lusty as I
had been lately, I would not fail," replied Wolsey,
" to ride post with you ; but I am sick and very
weak. Alas I all these comfortable words which you
have spoken to me are only to bring me into a fool's
paradise. I know what is provided for me. Not-
withstanding, I thank you, and will be ready to-
morrow."
So he did not deceive himself; but his illness was
destined to save him from the axe. Next day,
though Wolsey had passed a very bad night, he
had himself placed on his mule, and with difficulty
managed to reach Leicester Abbey on Saturday,
November 26.
As he entered the convent he said to the abbot.
*' Father Abbot, 1 am come hither to leave my bones
among you.^' Immediately he went to bed. He was
very ill, and his last moments scarcely escaped fresh
annoyance. Fifteen hundred pounds in Wolsey's
k2
132 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
possession had not been found at Cawood ; Kingston
was charged by the king to ask the cardinal what he
had done with this money. When he entered the
room where Wolsey had just received the viaticum,
seeing him weak and dying, he had the delicacy not
to insist upon doing Henry VIII.'s commission, and
even said some words of comfort to him. The
cardinal answered from his bed :
"Well, well, Master Kingston, 1 see the matter
against me, how it is framed; but if I had served
God as diligently as I have served the king. He would
not have given me over in my grey hairs. Howbeit,
this is the just reward that I must receive for my
worldly diligence and pains that I have had to do
him service. Commend rae to his majesty, beseech-
ing him to call to his remembrance all that has passed
between him and rae to the present day, and most
chiefly in his great matter ; then shall his conscience
declare whether I have offended him or no. He is a
prince of royal courage, and hath a princely heart ;
and, rather than he will miss or want part of hia
appetite, he will hazard the loss of one half of his
kingdom. I assure you I have often kneeled before
hitn in his privy chamber the space of an hour or
so, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but I
could never dissuade him."
He also urged Kingston to warn the king to be on
his guard against the fearful encroachments of
Lutheranism, as destructive to the authority of
wolset's death. 133
temporal sovereigns, as well as to that of the Church,
But his voice failed, his eyes became fixed and glassy.
At this moment the convent clock struck eight, and
he breathed his last. This was the morning of
November 30th, the feast of Saint Andrew.
Kingston took upon himself to permit funeral
honours to be paid to the cardinal without display,
but with proper respect. Some few friends and
servants, faithful to the end, are to be noticed amid
the general desertion of this great minister after his
last disgrace. When the clothes were removed to
lay him out, a hair shirt was found next the skin.
His corpse lay in state from eleven at night till four
in the morning, in a chapel of the great church of
the convent. Four persons only watched around his
modest bier, with lights in their hands. Before day
the monks chanted a mass for the repose of his soul,
then he was borne to the grave on one of those chill
-and foggy December mornings when the day seems
mourning, and nature feels the first rigours of winter.*
Wolsey had, however, incurred such hatred that
the most virulent expressions were used against him.
A pamphlet of the time says he had accumulated
riches and honours with the intention of opening him-
* The king afterwards erected a handsome monument to him in
Saint George's chapel at Windsor.
There was a report that the cardinal had poisoned himself to
avoid a death on the scaffold ; by a curious trick it was desired to
make his faithful servant and secretary, Cavendish, originate this
<alumny. In the firat printed editions of the life of Wolsey that
134 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
self a road to the pontifical throne, and that thi»
mass of dignities had only made the cardinal an
eminence of mud.
As his enemies, even after his death, endeavoured
to blacken his memory, a report was spread that
Henry lost in him a great minister and a useful
moderator of his passions.
In Wolsey Henry VHI. lost the curb which had
always restrained his passions within bounds. Thus
he was not the same after the disgrace and death of
that great statesman. The second portion of his
reign does not at all resemble the first. By his
caprice and cruelty he became the terror of his sub-
jects, the scourge of the Church, and the scandal of
Europe.
The policy of England was sensibly lowered by
several degrees, when it fell from the hands of a
minister like Wolsey into those of Norfolk, Suffolk,
Cromwell, Gardiner, and Cranmer, and its pros-
perity at home and greatness abroad suffered an
eclipse.
appeared the imputation on his master of having poisoned himself
is to be found. But this passage is not to be found in the original
manuscript. Wordsworth has effectually proved that it was an
interpolation. There are moral proofs to be found as well as
material. The notion of suicide could not have existed in a prelate
who showed so much piety and resignation in his last moments.
See note to Lingard, vol. vi, p. 164.
135
CHAPTER XVII.
Political Situation of England — Henry VHI. absorbed by
his Passion — The chief Universities of Europe desired to
deliberate on the Divorce Case — Pressure exercised on
those of Oxford and Cambridge — Henry makes large
Grants of Money to Francis I. to obtain favour from the
French Universities, and especially the Sorbonne — Du
Bellay and Marshal de Montmorency themselves visit the
Doctors in Theology of Paris, and do everything they
can to win them over to Henry's side — Disorder, Riots,
and Violent Disputes between the Doctors — An Imper-
ceptible Majority, due to Irregular Proceedings, in favour
of the Divorce — ^In Italy Henry's Agents contrive to
corrupt several Doctors of Bologna, Ferrara, and Padua
— But the Success of their Practices is not Complete —
It is discovered that the Minutes have been substituted
or falsified — ^In Germany the Universities express them-
selves steadfastly against the Nullity of Catharine's Mar-
riage — ^The Imperial Ambassadors in France and Rome
protest against these Debates and the Irregularities of the
Deliberations of the Universities — ^Petition presented to
the Pope by some English Noblemen, putting forward
political and other reasons for the Divorce — Firm and
Dignified Reply in the negative from Clement VII. —
Cromwell, in a conference with Reginald Pole, preaches
to him the most Cynical Machiavelism, and most Servile
Complaisance to all the King's Wishes — Courageous Atti-
tude of Reginald Pole towards the King — Henry VIII.,
after a First Burst of Anger, shows himself generous and
pardons him.
I
N the course of the year of Wolsey's fall the
policy of England had become more and more
136 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
involved in its relations with other powers ; never
had Henry VIII. been in greater need of the assist-
ance of that able and experienced minister.
Charles V. had made his peace with the pope with-
out losing his power over Italy. The two sons of
Francis I. were still kept as hostages, and closely
confined in the north of Spain ; he, therefore, was
careful not to offend the emperor for their sake.
Nearer home Henry VIII. had two enemies, one on
each flank : Ireland still half independent, and in a
constant state of commotion, and Scotland always
ready to make war upon him on any favourable
occasion.
But the King of England neglected his people's
interests for the interest that mastered him entirely
— his passion. He tried to get auxiliaries at any
cost in the chief universities of Europe, so as to
obtain support for the doctrine he desired should
prevail. His polemical ardour was infused into
them ; he stirred up violent disputes and noisy
contentions ; indeed, for what Wolsey called his
phantasy, he disturbed the theological and scientific
world all over Christendom.
Our subject somewhat leads us into a world apart,
but the grand institutions called universities must
not be judged by the melancholy scenes that will be
sketched or described.
The corruption and disturbance introduced by the
base agents of Henry VIII. were not the normal
THE UNIYERSITIES. 137
state of these sanctuaries, usually so respected and
so peaceful. Even in these times of revival, when
human learning seemed already becoming popular,
it was in the midst of these corporations of the
middle ages that the torch of literature and real
science burnt most brightly.
Oxford and Cambridge had long rivalled the best
French and Italian universities ; and Henry VIII.
first endeavoured to win these two national insti-
tutions to his side. But this was the moment of
Wolsey's disgrace, and he had greatly loved and
improved the university of Oxford. A great many
doctors and divines there, in consequence of this
event, were very ill-disposed towards Henry VIII.
As the king suspected this was the case, the theo-
logical consultation was conducted irregularly. 1st,
contrary to the usual practice, the masters of arts
were not allowed to attend convocation ; 2nd, the
Duke of Suffolk, with Gardiner and Fox, were pre-
sent at all the deliberations, and gave the doctors
no liberty to express their opinions ; 3rd, the learned
divine, Holyman, was imprisoned, and two or three
others were blamed for protesting against the pres-
sure put upon them ; 4th, the opposition stated that
decision in the king's favour had not been that of the
majority, and that the university seal had been
clandestinely appended to a falsified sentence.*
At Cambridge the first meeting was very stormy,
* Lingard, voL vi, note F, p. 385.
138 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
and passed iu animated discussion without any con-
clusion.* At the second meeting, twenty-six doctors
and bachelors were appointed as a committee to
examine the question of law. They are said to have
been equally divided, thirteen votes one way, and
thirteen the other ; at last they gave an affirmative
reply, but conditionally, t
It was also plainly seen that the opinion of foreign
universities would have more weight at the Court of
Rome, and even on public opinion, than that of the
two English universities, rightly suspected of being
under the influence of the government of their coun-
try. Henry VIII. was especially desirous to secure
the various faculties of the Sorbonne at Paris, and
of the chief French universities, in favour of the
divorce.
But to accomplish this the consent of Francis T.
had to be obtained. Henry knew that he was in
want of money to pay his children's ransom, and
perform the engagements of the treaty of Madrid,
To obtain favour, he did not hesitate to make the
greatest sacrifices.
The King of England had in his possession a
splendid fleur-de-lis of diamonds that had once be-
longed to the house of Burgundy, and which Philip
* J. Legrand says this was the first university consiilted.
Histoire du Divorce, vol. i, p. 170, et seq.
t The king had excluded the point of consummation of the first
marriage, and that was restored.
GRANT TO FRANCIS I. 139
the Handsome, Charles V.'s father, had pledged to
Henry VHI. for the sum of fifty thousand crowns.
Francis I. had entered into an engagement to redeem
this fleur-de-lis, and pay five hundred thousand
crowns more to the emperor, as he had not fulfilled
some conditions of the treaty of Madrid. Henry
Vni. gratuitously remitted these five hundred thou-
sand crowns for the King of France, as well as the
fleur-de-lis, and lent him four hundred thousand
crowns more to make up the sum of two million
crowns that was required to ransom the French
princes from their long and hard captivity.
Guillaume du Bellay and Joachim de Vaux were
both in England as ambassadors, and were desired
to receive the money, give receipts, and sign deeds.
They both wrote to their government that Henry
VHI. was most ardent in his wish for the dissolution
of his marriage, and complained that the University
of Paris had not sent him any answer, though he
had consulted it on this theological question several
months ago.
Du Bellay returned to France during the month
of February, 1530; he brought the receipt for the
five hundred thousand crowns and the diamond
fleur-de-lis. He was accompanied by Sir Francis
Bryant, a friend and relation of Anne Boleyn, and
one of Henry VlII.'s favourites. They were to work
together to procure a favourable declaration for him
from the University of Paris. Joachim de Vaux re-
140 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tnained a year in England, and received the four
hundred thousand crowns lent by Henry to Fran-
cis I.
Du Bellay, after a short stay at Blois, went to
Orleans, and won that university over to approve of
the dissolution of Catharine's marriage. But he met
with much greater difficulties in gaining the vote of
the Sorbonne. The King of England had written
with his own hand most flattering letters to the
doctors of theology of this celebrated faculty. Mar-
shal de Montmorency, the first minister to the King
of France, had gone in person from door to door
begging their votes. After the ground had been
well broken by these proceedings, Du Bellay was
present on June 8th, by the order of Francis I., at
a general congregation of the University of Paris,
summoned to deliberate on the question as to
whether Henry VHI. could lawfully marry the
widow of his brother Arthur, Prince of Wales.
Du Bellay made a long speech, and, under colour
of impartiality, came to a direct conclusion in favour
of the King of England's proposition. Amongst
othei'S, he made a very rash assertion that some
Italian universities had already pronounced in favour
of the divorce, while those of Padua and Bologna,
the only ones of that country which finally gave in
to that opinion, had not yet come to a final decision.
Du Bellay was said to be not only the friend, but the
pensioner of the King of England.
DELIBERATION OF THE SORBONNE. 141
Doctor Beda ventured to complain of the partiality
of the King of France towards the monarch whose
cause Du Bellay seemed to advocate ; and he, afraid
of a more direct accusation, put the troublesome
doctor to silence by saying that the faculty had only
to do justice, and that, if they pleased God, thexf
would please the king and displease no one.
On this Du Bellay left the hall, so that the doctors
might be more at liberty to say what they thought,
and come to what conclusion they chose.
The first to speak were of opinion that they ought
to deliberate on the question submitted to them in
accordance with the desire of the King of France^
Others maintained that they could not consider the
matter without having written to the pope, as this
cause was dependent upon him in its essence. Others
desired to write to the king and the pope at the same
time, and meanwhile commence their deliberations.
Some said that the sovereign pontiff had forbidden
discussion of this business, either in England or else-
where, whilst it was pending at Rome. On this a
member of the Sorbonne " remonstrated, saying that
the privileges of their body were derived from the
king as well as the pope, that it was an imputation
on the pope's honour to impute to him that he w^ould
have given such a prohibition, so that no consolatioQ
nor remedy could be given to the wounded conscience
of a Christian, and that there was no reason to obey
such a prohibition ; and when the bedel was taking
142 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the names and opinions of the debaters that the
opinion of the majority, one of the said lords our
masters got up, snatched the roll from him, and tore
it up, and thereupon they rose in a body with great
and disorderly tumult . . . Thus did the meeting
break up, and the King of England's ambassadors,
who were walking in a corridor, and saw them come
out with so much noise and disorder, and heard all they
said to one another, returned to their lodging very
angry, and thinking very ill of the business."*
The ambassadors were much disgusted at such an
exhibition, and Du Bellay persuaded them not to
write to their master till two days afterwards ; and
be also caused the recalcitrant doctors to be informed
* Histoire du Divorce, pp. 465, 466.
Doctor Garay to the emperor, April 9th, 1530 : " The King of
England has worked and is working so furiously in this matter of
the divorce that his doings are enough to set the world on fire.
Fearing lest he (Garay) should obtain the signatures of the
majority of these doctors — which might easily have been accom-
plished had not the above-mentioned obstacles been thrown in his
way — he has hit upon a diabolical device to mar our success and
ensure his own, which consists in the appointment of a gentleman
named Langes (De Laugeais), a brother of the Bishop of Ba
youne, French ambassador at the English Court, and, as it is to
be believed, well trained in civil law, to serve his plans. This is
the very man who, as above stated, caused the original conclusion
in favour of the queen, signed by fifteen doctors, to be snatched
out of his (Garray's) hands by the rector, on the plea that in so
doing they were only acting in obedience to superior orders, and
fulfilling their duty." Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iv, pt. i, pp.
497, 498. " Langeais, or De Langeay, as his name is otherwise
written, was Guillaume du BeUay, brother of Jean, Bishop of
Bayonne." Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iv, pt i, p. 623. (Ed.)
THEIR DECISION. 143
by the president that they must meet again for de-
bate, and at last they consented.
There were, however, some very stormy meetings,
and the English ambassadors gave a very unsatis-
factory account of what had passed, so that the Duke
of Norfolk wrote to Marshal de Montmorency that he
did not understand anything about it at all, and that
his correspondents informed him that at one meeting
of the doctors of the Sorbonne there had been fifty-
six votes for the King of England and only seven
against him, and in the next thirty-six against and
twenty-two for him. Such a defeat must have been a
great surprise to Henry VIII. In this letter the
duke cynically tells the first minister of France that
he must contrive, by his kind assistance, to procure
for Henry the end of his desire at Paris in his
business.*
Du Bellay not only made use of threats, but also
of promises, and even of bribery, with some needy
doctors, who were, as Pole says, more susceptible to
hunger than honour, quos fames magis quam fama
€ommoveret.1[
The lawyer Dumoulin, unfavourable to Rome,
says that the doctors of Paris gave their final opinion
* Histoire du Divorce, p. 476.
t Pole, still a young man, being at Paris was requested by-
Henry Vni. to assist the divorce, he made excuses, saying he was
no theologian. [" Many again by downright bribery, for he has
given them one crown per head, have voted in favour of the
English king." Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iv, pt. i, p. 498.] (Ed.)
144 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
at the end of the month of June, and on the votes
being counted there were fifty-three for the King of
England, and forty-two against him, and five who
wished the matter referred to the pope. As the
votes were thus divided the Bishop of Senlis took
the registers with him. The faculty ordered him to
return these registers, but he refused, pleading secret
orders from the king.* The two parties were very
much enraged with one another. Never was there
such an uproar among the divines of Paris. The
imperial ambassadors interfered, and complained to
the king of the English agents' intrigues ; they
begged to have the minutes communicated to them,
and to be authorised to bring forward their argu-
ments against the divorce before the University of
Paris, and, at the same time, desired a safe-conduct
for the Spanish doctors, for fear the English am-
bassadors should have them killed.f The king allay-
ed their scruples, and spoke them fair, but their
attendance did not take place. As the Sorbonne had
already held its deliberations, and come to a decision,
Du Bellay insisted on having an authentic copy of
the decree delivered to him, and applied to the first
president of the Parliament of Paris to get it for
him.:{: This magistrate was much disinclined to be
* Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, p. 498.
t Letter of Du Bellay, and Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand,
vol. i, p. 183.
t Jacques Brinon was the name of the president. Gayangos,
Calendar, vol. iv, pt. i, p. 623. (Ed.)
DOCTOR BEDA. 145
engaged in the business, and he wrote to the king
that it would injure Henry VIII. more than serve
him. He was desired to punish Doctor Beda, who,
according to Du Bellay, had raged like one possess-
ed. He absolutely refused, and contented himself
with remonstrating with both sides, to calm and
quiet them.* Do all he would, Du Bellay could
not get the copy of the minute given to himself.
First President Lizet had it sent direct to the kiug.f
* Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii, pp. 489, 490. G. du Bellay was
obliged to go to Bayonne, and left the prosecution of the business
to his brother, who, he says, took it moins chaudement que moi.
Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii, pp. 490, 491. Du Bellay also says
that Beda was very much suspected of having altered the register.
Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii, p. 502. We have a very rare
pamphlet before us, a letter of Burnett's to M. Thevenet, with
notes and remarks of M. Legrand upon Burnett's letter. Paris,
Veuve Martin, 1688. In page 21, it is stated that the real feel-
ing of the University of Paris was that there was no divine
law at all in the Old Testament, except the Ten Commandments ;
that those who were of a contrary opinion had been won by the
Angelots of England, and most of them retracted,j)Zwn«u" re-
tractarunt sententiavi. This is the proof given by the author
in his notes. In the winter of 1532-3, a thesis was proposed
in the Sorbonne declaring the validity of the dispensation grant-
ed to Catharine of Aragon to marry her brother-in-law, and,
consequently, the validity of her second marriage. More than
five hundred doctors and bishops were present. An immense
majority pronounced in favour of the thesis. " Pronunciaverunt
matrimonium serenissimorum Angliae regum, modis omnibus
ratum, legitimum, sunctumque esse, neque aligno pacto impia,
et intempestiva curiositate debere convelli." This thesis, followed
by this decision, is quoted as having been printed at Lunebourg,
by Sebastian Golseman, in 1533.
t Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii. See Du Bellay's long letter of
August 15th, when he says that he had "pursued" that magis-
VOL. n. L
146 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
There were fourteen universities in France ; three
more of them were consulted, and consented to
deliberate. They were those of Toulouse, Bourges,
and Angers. That of Toulouse was favourable to
Henry VIII. In that of Bourges, it is believed that
the faculty of law pronounced against the divorce.
At Angers the faculty of divinity, in the face of all
machinations, roundly decided that a marriage be-
tween brother and sister-in-law was not contrary to
either human or divine law, and that in such a case
the sovereign pontiff might grant a dispensation on
reasonable grounds.*
There were six or seven Italian universities, and
Henry had managed to gain over three of them —
Bologna, Padua, and Ferrara. The commissioners
sent by Henry VIII. to these universities were
Ghinucci, Bishop of Worcester, Gregory Casale,
Stokesley, and Croke. The last-mentioned especially
did not shrink from employing any kind of means.
trate, and, instead of himself receiving the document, was obliged
to be contented with the reply that it had been sent to the king
the same morning. He begs Marshal de Montmorency to send
him the document incontinent, and says, " I should like to have
bought it with my blood, and to have it ; I have promised it to
the King of England's agents." Histoire du Divorce, vol. iii,
pp. 502, 503, 504. It is a very curious letter to read, half comic,
half serious.
* " Hujusmodi matrimonium non adversatur juri naturali
neque divino, et pontifex, propter causam rationabilem potuit in
hac re dispensare." See the entire document, Histoire du Divorce,
vol. iii, pp. 507, 508.
BRIBERY OF UNIVERSITIES. 147
He himself wrote to Henry about Padua that he had
not bought the doctors with gold, but that, when
they had voted right and signed their names, he
had given them handsome presents in recognition of
their good-will; and then he says: "Albeit, gra-
cious lord, if that in time I had been sufficiently
furnished with money, albeit I have besides this seal
(which cost me one hundred crowns) procured unto
your highness one hundred and ten subscriptions,
yet it had been nothing in comparison of that might
easily and would have been done." *
In the University of Bologna Pallavicino, a carme-
lite friar, and one of the dignitaries of the university,
had been gained. He and four of his colleagues had
prepared a document which he declared had been
privately decided on by the university, and he had
given a notary the text of this pretended delibera-
tion, undated. But, this trick having transpired,
Pallavicino was called before the governor of Peru-
gia, and confessed that he had manufactured the
document, and that no debate had taken place in
the university.!
* Lingaxd, vol. vi, p. 387, quoted from Strype i, ap. 106.
Morisson, writing four or five years after Cockeens, was obliged to
admit that Henry had given presents to the doctors supporting his
cause, but alleged that this waa only as a mark of recognition,
and more as a recompense for their trouble than as a bribe. His-
toire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. i, p. 187.
t The depositions of Pallavicino and his accomplices are to be
seen in a very genuine collection.. Rymer s Fcedera, vol. xiv, pp.
l2
148 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
At Ferrara, one portion of the faculty of theology
seems to have voted in favour of Henry VIII. But
Croke failed in his negotiation with the professors
of civil and canon law. He had offered them a hun-
dred crowns ! This offer was contemptuously re-
fused. Two days afterwards, he would have given
twice as much, but it was too late ; the faculty of
law had the evening before decided that they would
not interfere in the matter, nor submit it for delibera-
tion.*
Putting all these things together, it is clear that
Henry VIII. had not much reason to boast of the
suffrages of these universities, which he had claimed
as favourable to his views, f
Though the king had sent some very active
agents to Germany — Cranmer, Giovanni Casale,
Andreas, and Previdellus — the universities of that
country either refused to deliberate or declared
against the divorce, and indignantly rejected Henry
VIll.'s money and presents. No one has ever as-
serted that similar methods of corruption were em-
ployed by Charles V. The English ministers and
893, 395, 397. Probably Croke had obtained a copy of the de-
positions to show that he had not meant to deceive the king, but
had been deceived himself.
* Burnet, vol. i, p. 91.
t Bossuet's analysis of these debates is to be found in his His-
toire des Variations, Book vii : " Clement VII. aurait ete indigne
do la tiare, s'il avait eu le moindre egard k ces consultations
mendi^es."
IMPERIAL PROTEST. 149
courtiers said, with great insolence : "After all, they
are only Germans."
A protest, the date of which is not exactly known,
was sent to the pope by the inaperial agents residing
in Rome during the course of the year 1529, whilst
the consultation of the universities was still going
on, and before their replies were known. lu this
species of petition they desired that an inquiry
should be made as to the promises, interruption, and
corruption made use of by the King of England in
order to obtain favourable opinions on the divorce
from these learned bodies. The English nuncio was
to be charged with the inquiry in the universities of
Oxford and Cambridge ; the Parisian as to the
French universities. As for Ferrara and Bologna,
the legates of those two cities had already received
orders to question the doctors of the various facul-
ties to ascertain what had taken place.
In their petition the Spanish ambassadors requested
the pope " crescente necessitate" to publish a new brief,*
enjoining everyone, under severe penalties^ not to
attempt any opposition to the pontifical decrees and
interdicts in matrimonial matters, and in particular
forbidding the English Parliament, and the nobility
and gentry of England, to interfere in the marriage
suit, now actually pending before His Holiness. They
wished that a special brief should be sent to each and
every university, " turn ultra quam citra monies/' en-
* One had been published.
150 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
joining them not in any way to give their opinion on
this question during the trial, and they asked that
letters might be addressed to the doctors of Paris
who had voted against ecclesiastical authority to
come to Rome and give an account of their conduct.
They also desired that the King of England should
be enjoined to dismiss " the adulterous woman, or the
one suspected to be such, and express a wish that the
nuncio in England should be desired to make a fresh
inquiry in reply to that held on Catharine's first
marriage."*
This document is subscribed by " Michael Mai and
Andreas de Burgo, councillors and ambassadors of
his imperial majesty and of the King of Hungary
respectively, prosecutors and solicitors of her most
serene highness the Queen of England." Probably,
therefore, Catharine had sent them a regular power.
We think it well now to go back and relate an
occurrence of considerable importance, and tending
to remove the question of Henry VIH.'s divorce from
the narrow circle of his passions and selfishness.
* Gayangos, Calendar, vol. iii, pt. ii, pp. 979, 980. As the
document has no date it is placed by the editor in April. But the
votes of the University of Paris could not have been known at
Rome before the months of August or September, so the petition
of the imperial ambassadors (Michael Maius and Andreas de
Burgo) must be referred to this date. And on the margin of the
(draft) document is an observation of the lawyer of the embassy in
these terms, " Quum ipsi habeant vota quatuor universitatiun,
melius est tacere, donee nos habeamus etiam nostra." Possibly this
petition only remained in draft, and was never sent to the pope.
ADDRESS OF THE NOBILITY. 151
When the King of England saw public opinion
arising in favour of Catharine, and the zeal of the
legates entrusted with the trial of the suit declining
more and more, he perceived that he must make
some sort of diversion, and give his suit a colour of
national interest. So he tried to attach the English
nobility to his cause, and induced them to take a kind
of initiative in the matter, hy a direct address to the
sovereign pontiff. Doubts having been raised as to
the legitimacy of the Princess Mary, even though
these doubts were ill-founded, pretenders to the
crown would make them an excuse to enaiit their
claims over those of a young girl incapable from
her sex of defending her own. Then there would be
the spectacle of a renewal of civil war, like that which
had seen the houses of York and Lancaster in arms,
and had caused English blood to flow in torrents
during the fifteenth century. Henry, his ministers,
and all his friends or favourites, dexterously put for-
ward these considerations, and managed to get the
nobles of the kingdom, or a certain number of them,
to write a letter to the pope, entreating him to give
their sovereign satisfaction by declaring the nullity
of his former marriage, so that he might contract a
second, and have an heir male, whose rights should
be incontestable.
Policy does not always agree with justice, and it
prompted a number of lords spiritual and temporal
to write a letter to the sovereign pontiff, of which
152 .CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
this is the substance. They said that not only the
king but the whole realm of England were complain-
ing of the interminable delays that had arisen in the
decision of an affair that was in the highest degree
interesting to the whole country. His Holiness had
received incontestable services from the English
government, and really ought to give a favourable
hearing to their prayers, and remedy their grievances,
as he could not be ignorant of them. That the most
learned universities in Europe had examined the
question of the validity of the king's marriage, and
are said to have found that Henry VKI. had reason
to require a declaration of nullity ; " therefore all
England beseeches His Holiness to give his sanction
to this general opinion that the voiding of this
marriage would be equitable and advantageous.
This would be the only means of ensuring the
peace of England and preventing the horrors of
civil war, into which it would certainly again fall,
if the king were to die without male offspring ; and
therefore supplication is made to His Holiness to
enable him to have hopes. Having always consider-
ed the sovereign pontiff as our father, we beseech
him to look upon us as his children, and not to
abandon us. If His Holiness should indefinitely
defer to grant our request, we shall take too long
a delay as a refusal, and shall, in consequence, find
ourselves obliged to seek a remedy elsewhere, and
perhaps come to some melancholy extremity, to
THE pope's reply. . 153
our great regret ; but finally a sick man seeks
comfort wherever he thinks he can find it."
The date of this letter is July 13th, 1529. It is
signed by Cardinal Wolsey, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Dukes of Norfolk and Sufiblk, two
marquisses, thirty earls, four bishops, twenty-five
barons, twenty-two abbots, and twelve members of
the House of Commons.*
The 29th of September following, Clement VII.
made a calm and dignified reply to this petition.
He said he forgave the English lords the harsh
language they had used in the end of their letter,
and attributed the improper expressions to their
affection for their king. He begged them, as a fond
father, not to think of seeking remedies elsewhere
than in the bosom of the church. He pointed out to
them that it is not the physician's fault when the
sick man is impatient, and will do nothing he dis-
likes ; that, if Henry VIII. had the opinion of some
doctors and some universities on his side,t the
queen could appeal to the law of God, and high
authorities found in the writings of learned divines ;
that Europe would not understand that a marriage
could be disputed which had been contracted and
completed so many years ago on a dispensation
• Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, voL i, pp. 200, 201, 202,
etseq.
t ITie opinions of the foreign universities could not be known
in England by the 13th of August, but certainly were at Rome
by September 22nd.
154 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
from the pope, asked for by two great kings, and
after the birth of several children. He said he had
no greater wish than to gratify the king as far as he
could, without violating the most sacred claims of
justice ; and he did not think that, as the king was so
pious, he would approve of the letter of these lords.
The king expressed great discontent at this letter,
though the pope had taken pains to speak with the
greatest kindness of him personally.
Clement, however, did not for a moment swerve
from the line of moderation he had laid down. Just
now Henry VHI. thought he could find a firm and
powerful support in the French alliance. He sup-
posed that, as soon as the French Princes were set
free, Francis I., on the spur of gratitude, would do
everything he wished, and that by getting France
to join him in the threats of separation already
thrown out by England, and supporting these threats
by preparations for war against the emperor, he would
force the hand of Charles V. and of the pope himself.
But Francis I. did not intend to push matters to
such an extremity. He wanted peace to cure the
wounds and exhaustion of France. In spiritual
matters he desired union, and not rupture.
Within England, Henry VIH. continued his system
of seduction and temptation of the most distinguished
and respected men of the country.
Thus did he try to win Sir Thomas More, Chancel-
lor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whom he made Lord
REGINALD POLE. 155
Chancellor instead of Wolsey. And thus did he cause
overtures to be made to young Reginald Pole,* his
relation, who had just concluded a brilliant course of
study, and had become intimate at Padua with Bem-
bo, Sadolet, Contarini, and other learned men of the
time. He was a pattern of propriety, and a lawyer
of the first rank. He had just returned to England
to breathe his native air, and find a little peace and
rest in the Carthusian monastery at Shene. There,
according to his own account, he received a visit
from Cromwell, who had been Wolsey's secretary,
and had just passed into the service of Henry VHI.
This statesman came to put an adroit question to
him as to the validity of Catharine's marriage.
Young Pole replied that it was a very difficult ques-
tion, and that the learned ought to be consulted oa
the answer. Cromwell replied, with an ironical and
disdainful smile, that the learned were buried in their
books, and knew nothing of the world or its business,
and were apt to make great mistakes. They were
especially apt to incur the anger of kings, and run
into great perils with their eyes shut, if they could
not suit their words to time, places^ and persons.
* Pole's grandmother was a Clarence. The facts here related
took place a little later, but the order of events leads us to antici-
pate their chronological place.
That young nobleman was the son of Sir Richard Pole, a Welsh
knight, and of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the daughter of
George, Duke of Clarence, who had been put to death by the
order of his brother, Edward IV. Lingard, voL vi, p. 180. (Ed.>
156 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
That he ought to know that a wise adviser should
observe these things with care, so as to discover
what is the real veritable will of the monarch, and,
having found it out, while pretending not to advise
him against any duty or virtue, — for princes pay great
attention to the appearance of this, — he must be most
careful to take every pains to comply with his
master's wishes, and make them acceptable. He
said a minister of Nero ought not to have expressed
any horror at the murder of Agrippina, when the
parricide had once been accomplished ; but he would
have acted very wisely if he had endeavoured to
quiet the king's conscience, and invent reasons of
State for him, to put him at peace with himself.
And as Cromwell saw that, far from being seduced,
Pole was rather disgusted by these suggestions, he
told him that he was inexperienced ; that great ex-
perience in public business was wanted for an under-
standing of him (Cromwell) ; that the government
of men and disputes in the schools were quite differ-
ent things. Then he advised the study of Machiavel's
work, his statesman's breviary, and sent next day the
book of "The Prince." " When I began to read that
book," says Reginald Pole, naively, " I recognized
that it had been written by the finger of Satan."*
And he sent this treacherous present back to Cromwell
at once.
* " Vix coepi legere quin Satanse digito scriptum agnoscerem."
Apologia ad Carohim quintum Caesarem, by Pole.
POLE AND THE KING. 157
Among the favourites and advisers of Henry Vlll.y
such as Bryant, Rochford, Norfolk, and Suffolk,
Cromwell was perhaps the most cynical, but the rest
were no less corrupt. They acted on the same princi-
ples, only did not venture to speak them aloud.
And this gives us a glimpse of gulfs of wickednesa
around this unhappy king.
Some time after the conversation with Cromwell^
Reginald Pole was received by Henry in the royal
gallery at Whitehall. We do not know that the
touch of Machiavel's philosophy might have slightly
contaminated his purity of soul. He himself states
that he had prepared a speech, and intended to give
a more or less qualified assent to the king's news of
the divorce. But he exclaims to divine goodness,
just as he was going to tell the king that he thought
favourably of his wishes and plans, his tongue hesi-
tated, his mouth remained shut, and he could not
say a word he had prepared. When he at last re-
covered his speech, it was to put forward all the
arguments that could be found to turn against the
very thesis that he had intended to support.* The
* Lingard, generally so correct, seems to us to have slightly distorted
the facts when he says, " After many debates with his brothers and
kinsmen, and a long struggle with himself, he fancied that he had
discovered an expedient by which, without wounding his conscience,
he might satisfy his sovereign." Lingard, vol. vi, p. 181. Making
Pole less weak and guilty than he was, at least intentionally. This is
the text of Pole himself, in that part of his narrative which does not
correspond with the English historian's account :
" Ad regem. Ut veni valde expectatus, quemadmodem initio ser-
158 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
king's surprise and anger may be imagined, when he
beard this language ; be laid bis band on bis dagger,
and sharply interrupted the speaker, who retired in
tears.
When Pole returned home, Lord Montagu and his
brothers were greatly alarmed, and told him that
his obstinacy would bring them to ruin, and perhaps
to the scaffold. Pole, attributing what bad passed
in bis conversation with the king to a supernatural
intervention, did not care to deny language that
seemed to him a direct inspiration of the Holy
Ghost. He recognised that be had been arrested on
the road to apostasy by a kind of miracle, and so he
consented to write a modest and touching letter to
the king, firmly maintaining his own opinion on the
divorce, and lamenting bis misfortune in being un-
able to share that of his august benefactor and rela-
tion. Montagu went to Henry with his brother's
excuses ; the king told him : " My lord, I cannot be
offended with so dutiful and affectionate a letter. I
love him in spite of his obstinacy, and, were be but
monis ipse testatus est, quum, ut ejus satisfactioni satisfacerem in-
gressTUD in causam qnsererem, hie non dicam haesitasse me, non satis
quae dicere volni, explicasse ; sed, o bonitatem divinam ! Ita mihi et
lingua plane impedita et os obstructum, ut ne verbum quidem effari
potuerim de iis quae mecum eram meditatus. Cum autem loqui tandem
coepissem minima de rerum, quae eam sententiam oppugnarent, cujns
defensor expectatus veneram hie, quam graviter perculsus fuerit et
attonitus, nihil attinet dicere, &c." De Ecclesiae Unitatis Defensione.
Lib. iii, cap. iii, fol. Ixxvi. In his apology to Parliament, Pole em-
ploys almost the same language.
henry's moderation. 159
of my opinion on this subject, I would love him
better than any man in my kingdom." *
At this time Henry VIII. had still some remains
of his old generosity. He continued to tolerate
opposition when it was presented in respectful
terms. The time was not far distant when he would
not bear it in any shape.
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 181.
160
CHAPTER XVIII.
Henry VIII/s two Ministers — Doctor Gardiner ; his Diplo-
matic Talents — Sir Thomas More — His Father a Judge of
the King's Bench ; he himself a Counsel and Member of
Parliament — He becomes Speaker of the House of Com-
mons — Cromwell, his Origin and first Adventures — In the
Beginning of his career he shows Hostility to the Church
— Coronation of Charles V. at Bologna — The Earl of
Wiltshire, Anne Boleyn's Father, sent as Ambassador to
the Pope and the Emperor — Cranmer goes with him as
Theologian — Cold and Haughty Reception of Charles V. —
Henry loses heart, and almost gives up Anne and returns
to Catharine — Inspired by the Boleyns, Cromwell tries a
bold Stroke — He begs a private Audience of Henry VIII.,
hardens him against every scruple, and becomes his Evil
Genius — He procures the passing of Resolutions in favour
of the Divorce, and a first bill of the King's Spiritual
Supremacy, first by Convocation, and then by both Houses
of Parliament.
WOLSEY'S offices were divided between Gardiner
and Sir Thomas More, whom we have men-
tioned before. Stephen, or Stevens, Gardiner was
born at Bury St. Edmunds, of very humble parent-
age. He spent the first years of his life at the Uni-
versity of Paris, and there gained a good reputation
as a jurist, and better as a humanist, for he repeated
GARDINER'S RISE. 161
and acted Plautus's comedies with great spirit. He
was called Felix actor et eloquens* lu 1525 he be-
came tutor, or professor, in Trinity College, Cam-
bridge. In 152G he entered into Wolsey's service,
and this introduced him to the political world.
It may be remembered that he was selected by
the cardinal, with Fox, for a. difficult mission to Cle-
ment VII. He distinguished himself by his ability,
and became leader of the deputation, and in that
capacity made himself again remarkable for audacity
and arrogance towards the sovereign pontiff.
Henry VIII. was pleased at the way in which he
had performed his mission, took him into his confi-
dence, and made him Secretary of State ; thus he
became successor of the great minister who had been
his tutor in public business. If he had not been an
ordained priest, perhaps he might have been made
Lord Chancellor. But the king would not have an-
other churchman in that high office.
Gardiner was audacious enough towards the pope,
but terror-stricken before Henry VIII. ; he always
seemed ready to be servile and compliant, and to
gratify his master's passions. He was of the race of
Court prelates, who are the ruin of kings by twisting
even the law of God to accommodate their whims.f
The lawyer, Thomas More, who was made Lord
* John Leland calls him so in his Encomia, p. 117. See also
Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. cccxxxvi.
t But it must be allowed that he acted better during the second
portion of his life.
VOL. II. M
162 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Chancellor, was very different in character. His
father had been a judge of the court of king's
bench, and he wished his son to put on the long
robe. So, having finished his studies at Oxford with
great success, the young student early entered upon
legal labours. But it seems that he turned aside, for
a moment, from law to theology ; he was scarcely
more than eighteen when he lectured in Saiut Law-
rence's Church, London, on Saint Augustine's Civitas
Dei. His enthusiasm for the Bishop of Hippo was
unbounded. At this period of his life he wished to
put on the serge gown of the Franciscan friars,
after preparing himself for a life of mortifications ;
but from this his confessor dissuaded him. His real
vocation was to be a pattern husband and father,
and to set an example of perfect integrity and heroic
independence in public life.
Towards the end of the reign of Henry VIL he
had been Under-sheriff of the City of London, and
"was elected a member of parliament, when he be-
came the principal opponent of an aid that the
avaricious king had wished to claim from England.*
The first of the Tudors was inclined, like most of
* This was on the occasion of the marriage of the king's
eldest daughter, Margaret, to the I^ng of Scotland, when he
had a right to claim an aid, but thought it a good opportunity
to gratify his avarice by demanding a much larger sum than he
intended to give his daughter. More was then about twenty-
four. Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i, p. 518.
(Ed.)
MORE*S PUBLIC SPIRIT. 163
bis successors, to curb the constitutional liberties of
the country by a considerable exercise of arbitrary
power.
" And for as much as he, nothing having, nothing
could lose, his grace devised a causeless quarrel
against his father, keeping him in the Tower till
he had made him pay to him a hundred pounds fine.
Shortly hereupon it fortuned that Sir Thomas More,
ijoming in a suit to Doctor Fox, Bishop of Win-
chester, one of the king's privy council, the bishop
called him aside, and pretending great favour to-
wards him promised that, if he would be ruled by
hira, he would not fail into the king's favour again
to restore him ; meaning, as it was afterwards con-
jectured, to cause hira thereby to confess his ofifences
against the king, whereby his highness might with
the better colour have occasion to revenge his dis-
pleasure against him ; but when he came from the
bishop he fell into communication with one Maister
Whitforde, his familiar friend, then chaplain to that
bishop, and showed him what the bishop had said,
praying for his advice. Whitforde prayed him by
the Passion of God not to follow the counsel, for
my lord, to serve the king's turn, will not stick to
agree to his own father's death. So Sir Thomas
More returned to the bishop no more." *
Henry VII.'s death soon followed ; and Thomas
had no occasion for an honourable sacrifice in order
* Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, p. 619, from Roper.
M 2
164 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to ransom his father. He was elected member of
parliament for the session of 1522-23. He distin-
guished himself as an orator, and was appointed
Speaker of the House of Commons. But More was
especially distinguished at the bar. He was selected
to conduct one important case before the Star Cham-
ber. The nuncio had chosen him to plead for the
restoration of a vessel belonging to Leo X., which
bad been seized as forfeited to the English crown.
He won the case, and Henry VHL, being present,
was so much struck with More's ability and elo-
quence that he made him, successively. Master of
Requests, a Privy Councillor, and Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster.
A fortunate argument for a pope was the cause of
his rise ; his devotion to the papacy was afterwards
the cause of his ruin and fall. In choosing More for
chancellor, and keeper of the great seal, Henry had
been careful to select a person of undistiugTiished
family, and unconnected with the high church dig-
nitaries, or great nobles of the kingdom. He count-
ed on servile obedience from More, who owed every-
thing to him. But he had to deal with a conscience
that was too pure and noble to give or sell itself
away.
Yet we may feel surprise that Thomas More, an
opponent of the divorce, should, even when the suit
was still in progress, have accepted the dangerous
post of chancellor and minister to Henry VHL in
MORE BECOMES CHANCELLOR. 165
succession to Wolsey. He was not ambitious, nor
supposed to be so. He said he accepted the office in
the hope of being useful to his country, and was
generally believed.
On his installation as chancellor he made a bold
and dignified reply to the address of the president
of council, the Duke of Norfolk, concluding thus,
^' Wherefore I ascend this seat as a place full of
labour and danger, the which, by how much the
higher it is, by so much greater fall I am to fear, as
well in respect of the very nature of the thing itself
*is because I am warned by this late fearful example.
And truly I might even now at this very first
entrance stumble, yea, faint, but that his majesty's
most singular favour towards me, and all your good-
wills, which your joyful countenance doth testify in
this most honourable assembly, doth somewhat re-
create and refresh me ; otherwise this seat would be
no more pleasing to me than that sword was to
Damocles, which hung over his head, and, tied only
by a hair of a horse's tail, seated him in the chair of
state of Denis, the tyrant of Sicily." *
More's time was divided between the duties of his
high office and his domestic life. There was no
change in his simple habits and practice of devotion.f
* Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i, p. 642.
(Ed.) Rudhoert, Thomas Morus, Nuremburg, 1829.
t It is remarkable that Wolsey's opponents comprised not only
Lutherans, or Protestants, but also Catholics, disgusted with the
duplicity of his policy. And so Henry VIII. thought he must
1G6 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Lord Rochford, afterwards created Earl of Wilt-
shire, was a member of the cabinet, and it was shortly
afterwards completed by the addition of Cromwell,
who had been Wolsey's secretary.
Cromwell was the son of a fuller in the suburbs of
London. He had early taken service as a volunteer in
the army of the Constable de Bourbon in Italy. He
was present at the sack of Rome ; then he became the
librarian of a Venetian^ and made himself acquainted
with the Italian literature of the period. He soon
returned to London, was called to the Bar, and took
his place among the council practising in matters of
State right.* He was therefore employed by VVolsey
in the dissolution of the small monasteries authorised
by Henry VIII., and contrived to make a considerable
profit in the performance of his work. When the
cardinal was sent to Esher, and fell ill, Cromwell
deserted him soon enough, came to London to offer
his services to Henry VIlI.'s ministers, and was con-
firmed in his employments, till higher duties should
be entrusted to him.f
satisfy both parties. Most likely More consulted the bishops who
still remained good Catholics before he accepted the office of
chancellor ; such as Fisher, and perhaps the nuncio himself ; and
they all advised him not to refuse. They hoped he might be of
use to the church.
* Domi reversus causidicis se immiscuit his qui jura regni
profitentur. Polus, Apol. Reg., vol. i, p. 126 and Seq. Always
and in every country there have been lawyers who have made it
their practice to defend ths rights, or rather the pretensions, of
the State against the Church.
t It was during this Parliament (1529) Cromwell is said to have
Cromwell's contrivanoe. 167
It was with the assistance aud by the advice of
this lawyer that Henry summoned a Parliament to-
wards the end of 1529, and in it began his warfare
against the privileges of the Church and the authority
of the pope. A bill was passed by his direction en-
acting that every clergyman, who had obtained in
the Court of Rome, or elsewhere, a licence of non-
residence on his cure, or a dispensation to hold more
benefices than the statute allowed, became liable, in
the first case, to a penalty of twenty pounds, and
in the second to a penalty of seventy pounds, and
the forfeiture of the profits arising from such
benefices.*
We need not say these bills passed without dif-
ficulty. An extraordinary thing it would have been
for a Parliament or convocation of the clergy to give
the smallest sign of independence.
greatly distinguished himself in defence of his master. " There could
nothing be spoken," says Cavendish, " against my lord in the Parlia-
ment House, but ho would answer it incontinent, or else take imto the
next day, against which time he would resort to my lord to know what
answer he should make in his behalf ; in so much that there was no
matter alleged against my lord, but that he was ever ready furnished
with a suflBcient answer ; so that at length, for his honest behaviour
in his master's cause, he grew into such estimation in every man's
opinion that he was esteemed to be the most faithful servant to his
master of all others, wherein he was of aU men greatly commended."
Cavendish, p. 247. " His occupation as a scrivener, half lawyer, half
money-lender. ... A thriving usurer, wool-stapler, and merchant.'
Letters and Papers, Brewer. Introduction, vol. iv, p. dxli.
* The lower house of convocation complained that they had not
been previously consulted on these statutes. Nee consenserunt per
se, nee per procuratores suos neque super iisdem consulti fuerunt.
Collier, Memoir, xxviii.
168 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
It would have been difficult to find a single parlia-
mentary protest at that time against any act of the
crown, however unjust and tyrannical it might be.*
The House of Commons had also tendencies
favouring the ideas of reform already propagated
over a large portion of Germany ; and thus was well
disposed to give a good reception to any measure
hostile to the Romish Church.
Meanwhile a complete reconciliation had taken
place between Charles V. and Clement VII. Charles,
in an interval of peace left him by his enemies, wished
to have himself crowned emperor by the hands of the
pope. On November 5th, 1529, Charles V. met the
pope in the open square at Bologna before all the
people he kissed his feet, and then his hand and
ring, and His Holiness, having raised him, presented
his cheek and kissed him : this was the grant of an
amnesty for the sack of Rome.f
The coronation took place afterwards with great
ceremony in the church of Saint Petronilla. The
* Brewer, vol. iv, p. dcxlvii. This same Parliament released
the king from a loan made to him by his subjects six years before,
on the pretext that the prosperity of the nation under the king's
paternal government ought to induce his subjects to show him
their gratitude by releasing him from his debt. The clergy made
a similar concession. Lingard, vol. vi, p. 167.
t The French ambassadors say that Clement was very unwiUing
to perform this ceremony. The Cardinal de Gramraont thus
speaks of the pope: " Aucunes fois qu'il pensoit qu'on ne le re-
gardast, il faisoit de si grands soupirs, que pour pesante que fut
sa chape, il la faisoit branler h bon escient." Letter, Feb. 26th,
1530. Legrand, Authorities, vol. iii, p. 386.
CHARLES V.'S CORONATION. 169
pope placed Charlemagne's iron crown upon the head
of the new emperor, and Charles made oath to defend
the pope and the Romish Church, the patrimony,
privileges, and rights of the Holy See.
As Charles was to spend several months at Rome
with the pope, Henry VHI. had the strange fancy of
sending an extraordinary embassy to both of them
to endeavour to extract from them an assent to his
plan of divorce. He thought that the Duke of Al-
bany, his regular ambassador, had not known how to
pursue the matter as he ought to have done, and
that his want of address might be repaired by more
able agents.
Henry was not afraid to place at the head of the
embassy the Earl of Wiltshire, the very father of
Anne Boleyn, on the pretext that no one ought to
be more interested in the success of the mission.
Three colleagues were sent with him — Stokesley,
Bishop-elect of London, Doctor Rowland Lee, the
king's chaplain, and Benett, a lawyer. As chaplain
to the embassy Thomas Cranraer was appointed, a
priest attached to the Boleyn family, and Lady Anne
in particular. This churchman, who became Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and took a leading part in the
divorce case, had an unsatisfactory history.
At Cambridge, where he had been a fellow, he had
given his opinion against the monks, and in favour
of the divorce. At this time, not having taken
orders, be married an innkeeper's daughter, and left
170 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the university ; but, having lost his wife, he was en-
treated to return to it. Afterwards, being a priest,
he secretly made a second marriage in Germany,
during his mission to the universities of that coun-
try ; he had then married the grand-daughter of the
pastor Osiander, but he left her at home, and did
not bring her to England.* Cranmer then brought
back Lutheran notions from the Continent more
advanced than Henry's, making him a convenient
instrument for a rupture, if the king chose to have
recourse to one.
This doctor of doubtful character was sent to
present the pope with a letter he had himself written
concerning the unlawfulness of the marriage of
Henry and Catharine of Aragon.
The ambassadors were authorised to employ all
possible means of persuasion with the pope and the
empei'or. But, though bribery might have been suc-
cessful with some doctors of the universities, it must
fail before these two grand thrones ruling Christen-
dom, one in spiritualities, the other in temporalities.f
According to Joachim de Vaux, the ambassadors
* There are some doubts as to the time of this marriage, but
the fact of it is attested by Godwin. Annales, pp. 49, 138.
Osiander was pastor at Niiremberg, and one of Luther's most
zealous disciples.
t It seems that, a few days before, the pope had decided on
signing a brief forbidding Henry from contracting a second mar-
riage, and enjoining him to treat Catharine as his lawful wife,
and that, after he had seen the ambassadors, he consented to
suspend the publication of the brief.
WILTSfflRE'S EMBASSY. 171
were to live iu great luxury, and display great
splendour, as if to make His Holiness see that, if he
had need of money, the King of England had some
at his service. Clement VH. did not, or would not,
understand the meaning of this unspoken hint ; but
he gave the Earl of Wiltshire and his colleagues a
favourable reception, saying he would do all he could
for Henry VHI.*
The English ambassadors were not so well re-
ceived by Charles V. When he saw that the Earl
of Wiltshire, Lady Anne's father, was intending to
speak, he could not repress a movement of impa-
tience. " Stop, sir," said the emperor ; " allow your
colleagues to speak — you are a party in the cause."
The earl must have had a good stock of audacity
ready to meet the difficulties of his mission, a post
he had not been afraid to accept, and even to solicit,
and so he replied with firmness that he did not
stand there as a father defending the interests of his
child, but as a minister representing the person of
his sovereign ; that, if Charles would acquiesce in
the royal wish, Henry would rejoice ; if he did not,
the imperial disapprobation should never prevent
the King of England from demanding and obtaining
justice. Then he ventured to offer Charles V., as
the price of his consent to Henry's wishes, the sum
* " El comte aveva commission di fare una grossa spesa, come
sarebbe sovenir h SS. in questi suoi bisogni d'una buona somma
di denari." Letter of Joachim de Vaux to Francis, dated Lon-
don, March, 1530. He always wrote in Italian.
172 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
of three hundred thousand crowns, the return of
Catharine's marriage portion, amounting to four
hundred thousand crowns, and security for a main-
tenance suitable to her birth, for life.
The emperor replied with dignity that he was not
a merchant to sell the honour of his aunt ; the cause
was now before the proper tribunal. If the sove-
reign pontiff^s decision should be against Catharine,
he would be silent ; if in her favour, he would sup-
port her cause with all the means which God had
placed at his disposal.*
The English ambassadors stayed some time longer
at Rome to collect the deliberations and decisions,
more or less authentic, and more or less prompted,
of the various universities that had given their opin-
ions in favour of the divorce ; but Clement VII. had
soon learnt by what artifices these pretended suf-
frages of learning had been obtained, and also that the
majority of these universities had depended on cer-
tain suppositions that Catharine herself always ener-
getically denied, and Isabella while alive had dis-
believedjt so such authorities were but of small
account.
Then Henry's diplomatic agents informed him
that, on the application of the imperial ambassadors,
the pope, though doing all he could to protract the
* See Lingard, vol. vi, p. 170, from Bishop of Tarbes, March
27th and 28th. Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 401, 454. (Ed.)
t See pt. i, chap. iii.
HENRY DISCOURAGED. 173
business as much as possible, would be forced to
sign and publish a brief forbidding archbishops and
bishops, courts and tribunals, from giving any kind
of judgment in the matter of the marriage of Henry
and Catharine, and reserving to the sovereign pontiff
alone the right to pronounce or refuse the divorce.
It is the Earl of Wiltshire himself, in whom the
king had so much reason to confide, who informs
him that all legal expedients seem exhausted, and
that a current favourable to the emperor and Catha-
rine seemed to be setting in at the Court of Rome.
Henry became melancholy at this news. He
lamented the futility of the vast efforts he had so
far made. His resolution began to shake ; he let
some of his confidants hear that he had been de-
ceived, that he would never have thought of a
divorce from Catharine unless he had believed he
could obtain it from a regular ecclesiastical Court, or
from the pope himself ; and since the assurances that
had been made to him were unfounded, as he was
forced to allow, he said he would give up the prose-
cution of the suit, leave Anne Boleyn, and restore to
Catharine all her rights as lawful wife.*
These expressions of discouragement and repen-
tance came like menaces to the ears of the Boleyns,
and of Anne herself. The whole party were thrown
* Pole mentions this on the authority of one of those to whom
such confidences had been made. Mihi re/erebat qui audivit.
Apologia ad Carolum Quintum Caesarem, p. 127.
1 74 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
into a state of anxiety, and terror-struck. Their ruin
was already prophesied, when an unexpected chance
came to their rescue, and produced a complete change
in Henry's fickle mind.
Cromwell's antecedents have been mentioned. As
for his morality, the measure of it has been given in
the account of his interview with Reginald Pole. He
had sold himself to Norfolk and Wiltshire ; their dis-
grace would have entailed his own. Setting one
danger against another, he preferred to try a grand
etroke ; for an ambitious man like him, it was playing
double or quits.
The sovereigns most accustomed to find every-
thing bend to their will and pleasure would often
pause upon the road to evil, were they not urged on
by some person more cynical and wicked than them-
selves. Ahasuerus had his Haman, Tiberius his
Sejanus, Nero his Narcissus ; Henry VHI.'s evil
genius was Cromwell.
The son of the fuller of the suburbs of London, the
comrade of coarse lansquenets in pillage and revelry
authors of the sack of Rome, did not shrink from
asking Henry VHI. to give him a jjrivate audience.
He ventured to interfere with the inward conflicts of
that soul, hesitating, disturbed, discouraged under
the inspiration of perversity concealed beneath a
mask of devotion.
When Cromwell found himself in the presence oi
the King of England, he at first appeared to be agi-
CROMWELL'S SUGGESTIONS. 175
tated, almost alarmed. He seemed to have some
difficulty in approaching his subject, giving his
advice to so powerful a king, and so learned, about
such a delicate matter as the divorce ; yet, seeing the
anxieties and uneasiness of his beloved sovereign, he
had thought he could not keep silence. No doubt it
was great presumption on his part, but he thought
that, if the regular advisers of the crown kept silence
in this instance, it was from a wrongful fear of dis-
pleasing their master. As for him, he had come to
the resolution of venturing everything in the endea-
vour to be of use to his king and country. He said
the opinion of Christendom had conclusively pro-
nounced in favour of the divorce by the mouth of
many universities, and the principal divines and law-
yers in Europe. It was true the pope^s approval
was wanting, being kept in check by the emperor's
threats. But, if the king could not obtain the favour-
able judgment he had a right to expect from the
Court of Rome, was he therefore for that to give up
the attempt, and renounce his demand for justice?
Should he not rather follow the example of those
German princes who had withdrawn from the yoke of
the papacy ? And why could not he declare himself
head of the Church within his realm, relying on the
authority of his parliament! England had really
two sovereigns; it was a double-headed monster.
But, if Henry VHI. did not hesitate to grasp the
authority usurped by the pope, he might put an end
176 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to this great anomaly ; all the difficulties of the situ-
ation would vanish at the same time, and the church-
men, strongly attached to their benefices and their
fortune, would submit themselves to their king, and
become the most humble servants of his will. He
said also that the oath to the pope, taken by a bishop
on his consecration, seemed to him to be contrary to
the oath of allegiance to the king, and that this
contradiction ought to be put a stop to.*
Henry, who had at first listened to Cromwell with
great surprise, gradually allowed himself to yield to
the seductions of his words ; that which at first he had
looked upon as impossible, at last came to seem to
him to be acceptable and easy. So he yielded to
the suggestions of the clever tempter, and hardened
himself for ever against all remorse. The scheme
laid before him offered the means of reaching with
certainty the object that he had so long pursued,
and that seemed always to fly before him. He
also perceived, in the execution of this project,
a chance to make himself master of a considerable
part of the wealth of the clergy. Therefore he
thanked Cromwell much for his bold and judici-
ous advice, and ordered him to take the oaths as
a member of the privy council. Some time after-
* The French is stated to be a translation from the speech as
reported in Latin by Pole. " Hoc possum affirmare nihil in Ula
oratione positum alicujus momenti, quod non ab eodem nuncio
(Cromwell) eo narrante intellexi, vel ab eis qui ejus concilii fue-
runt participes." Pole, p. 123.
PR^MUNIRE. 177
wards, he made him chancellor of the exchequer.*
But how was the submission of the clergy to be
obtained, that the new member of council had, in
some sort, guaranteed to the King of England?
Cromwell had conceived a plan of singular clever-
ness for this purpose, and its success seemed to him
to be certain. When it has been exposed, it will be
seen that Machiavelli's pupil, even in the commence-
ment of his career as a statesman, was the equal, or
even superior of his master.
We have already mentioned the old statutes of
prcemxinire, condemning to confiscation of property
and imprisonment any person seeking " provision " f
or survivorship at the Court of Rome, or carrying
suits within the jurisdiction of secular judges before
ecclesiastical tribunals.
Cardinal Wolsey, to avoid irritating the king, had
pleaded guilty to contravention of these statutes ; and
yet he might have protested that they had fallen
into disuse, and also that he had letters patent of
Henry VIII. formally dispensing with their observa-
* He was afterwards named Vicar-general of the English
Church ; the vicar, or vice-gerent, was worthy of his chief.
t " Provisions " were grants of temporalities to provide for
the maintenance of persons appointed to ecclesiastical dignities,
granted at first by the king, afterwards attempted to be usurped
by the pope. 27, Edward III., Lingard, vol. iv, pp. 153, 154.
Ill, Richard II., Lingard, vol. iv, p. 225. The same penalties
were imposed on the offence of administering the benefice of an
alien, or conveying money out of the kingdom in virtue of such
administration. (Ed.)
VOL. II. N
178 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tion. But the unfortunate cardinal's plea of guilty,
which had been only intended to appease his master,
and obtain his forgiveness, furnished Cromwell with
a weapon against all the English clergy, as having
recognized Wolsey's authority, either as legate of
the pope, or as ecclesiastical judge. He found evi-
dence in it that the clergy had been accomplices of
the illustrious criminal, convicted on his own con-
fession.
The king appreciated the reasoning, and adopted
the plan of his minister. And he thereupon ordered
his attorney-general to cite the whole of the English
clergy to appear before the court of king's bench,
and at the same time desired Cromwell to summon
what he called the convocation. This body, as is
well known, is a general assembly of the clergy,
divided, like the parliament, into two chambers : the
higher, where the prelates sat, and the lower, com-
posed of simple holders of benefices.
In the face of this imposing assembly Cromwell
had the audacity to assert that the first duty of a
loyal subject was to honour the king, and serve him
faithfully, as the image of God on earth, and that all
the English clergy had transgressed this duty in
submitting to the authority of the legate, contrary
to the statutes of prcemunire^ in virtue of which the
king would have the right to obtain a conviction
against them, and forfeiture of all their property for
the benefit of the crown.
CONVOCATION. 179
Several prelates desired to speak, but Cromwell
refused to hear them, and broke up the sitting. The
effect of intimidation had been established, and the
astute statesman took advantage of it. Three days
afterwards convocation met again ; and two great
questions were submitted for resolution. The first
was to determine whether marriage between brother
and sister-in-law was forbidden by divine right ; the
second was whether the marriage of Prince Arthur
and Princess Catharine was complete. Convocation,
by a large majority, decided both these questions in
the affirmative.
Having made these concessions in order to re-
cover the king's favour, the prelates asked for remis-
sion of the penalties they had incurred under the
acts of prcemunire. The answer was that they could
only obtain this on payment of a fine. They offered
a ransom of a hundred thousand pounds ; but Henry
VHI. caused them to be informed that he would hot
accept that sum, and would not forgive them unless
they added a clause to the donation, recognising him
as supreme head of the Church of England.
This was going very fast, and seemed foreign to
the English temperament, as it only acts step by
step, especially when relinquishing old traditions.
Nevertheless, so great was the effect produced upon
the clergy by fear, that Henry VIII., at Cromwell's
instigation, thought he could venture any lengths,
and hoped to carry everything at one blow.
n2
180 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
There was great dismay in the assembly when
Cromwell announced tliis new demand of the king ;
but no one broke silence until Doctor Tunstall,
lately appointed Bishop of Durham, thought it his
duty to point out to his seniors the full danger, and
he laid the question before them with courage and
plainness, inconvenient, it may be, to more than one
servile conscience. " If the clause meant nothing
more than that the king was head in temporals,
why, he asked, did it not say so ? If it meant that
he was the head in spirituals, it was contrary to the
doctrine of the Catholic Church, and he called on all
present to witness his dissent from it, and to order
the entry of his protest among the acts of the convo-
cation."*
Such a bold action was beyond the power of the
majority of the meeting ; they looked for expedients
and contrivances, when they ought to have given a
strong direct refusal. Warham, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, moved an amendment, declaring that
they recognised the King of England's supremacy,
quantum per legem Chris ti liceat. When the royal
commissioners came to Henry to submit this amend-
ment, he was at first much enraged, and exclaimed,
" Marry, I thought I had the laugh at the bishops,
but they laugh at me ! Go back to them, and tell
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 179, from Wilkins' Concilia, vol. iii, p.
745- This was in the convocation of the province of York. (Ed.)
THE king's supremacy. 181
them I will have no quantum nor tantum in the
business, but let it be done."*
The king was brought to understand that, as
long as Rome had not given its doctrinal judgment
against the divorce, there was one chance left that
should not be thrown away — that it might be useful
to show that a rupture was possible, but that it
would be unseasonable and impolitic to precipitate
it. He therefore thought it well to content himself
with this formula, " of which church and clergy we
acknowledge his majesty to be the chief protector,
the only and supreme lord, and, as far as the law of
Christ will allow, the supreme head." Thus in these
last words there was a feeble bond that still con-
nected the English monarchy with Roman unity.
Henry VHI. afterwards could break it without diffi-
culty, if his divorce was finally rejected by the pope.
The absence of the names of Fisher and Pole as
supporters of Tunstall's motion would have been
rather surprising, if it were not known that they
had both protested by their absence.f In 1529, when
the king and Wolsey had proposed the suppression
of the lesser monasteries as a salutary reform, Fisher
* The life and death of the renowned John Fisher, Bishop of
Rochester, by Thomas Bayley, London, 1740, 12mo, p. 135.
t Pole says formally that he was not present. Dum hsec
statuerentur, non adfui, &c., xix, Ixxxii. [Fisher, as Bishop of
Rochester, was a member of the convocation of the province of
Canterbury.] (Ed.)
182 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
had been the first to sound the note of alarm ; he
had ventured to say, " It is not so much the good as
the goods of the church which men are now looking
after,"* and that they were on the way to break the
bonds that united the Church of England to the
Apostolic See.
After the assemblies of the clergy had consented
to the kiug's supremacy, it might have been expect-
ed to be passed by the House of Lords and the
Commons without debate, but there were some diffi-
culties raised in the latter; however, they at last
voted almost unanimously for the bill of supremacy
as amended and passed by the convocation of the
clergy.
* Tytler, p. 303.
183
CHAPTER XIX.
Another Vain Attempt to influence Catharine — Her Degra-
dation and Dismissal from Court — Delay demanded of
the Pope by the English Ambassadors — Continual In-
crease of the state of Hostility to Rome — Cautionary Brief
addressed by Clement VII. to Henry — Suppression of
Annates by Parliament — Proposal by Nicholas Temse in
Catharine's favour — Dismissal of Sir Thomas More —
Another English Embassy to Rome — Henry does not
choose to be represented before the Court of Consistory
by an Accredited Proctor ; he sends an Excuser — Sharp
Dispute between the Imperial Ambassadors and the Eng-
lish Agents — Clement VII. grants them more Delay, and
desires the Interference of Francis I. in the Business —
That King's Excellent Attitude.
THE clergy and Parliament, representatives of the
living power of all England, had pronounced
against the validity of Henry VlII.'s marriage ;
Catharine seemed deserted by all. Anne Boleyn,
impatient to hasten the hour of her triumph, per-
suaded Henry to take advantage of the discourage-
ment that the queen must feel to induce her to give
up all resistance. So an attempt at coercion was
again made upon this noble and unhappy princess.
Immediately after the prorogation of Parliament,
184 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Henry VIII. sent several nobles of his Court to
Catharine, who proposed to her to refer the question
of the validity of her marriage to the arbitration of
four spiritual and four temporal members of the House
of Lords. The commissioners again dwelt upon the
disturbed conscience of Henry VIII. requiring to be
relieved as soon as possible. But this time the snare
was clumsy; if she had consented to this arbitration,
it would have been signing her own sentence. She
therefore made a firm and dignified reply to the en-
treaties of the royal commissioners.
" God grant my husband a quiet conscience ; but I
mean to abide by no other decision excepting that of
Rome."
Henry then declared there was no reason for any
further consideration towards her. He sent orders
to Catharine immediately to leave Windsor Castle,
her residence ; she undauntedly replied that wherever
she went she would still be his wife. After receiving
Henry's imperative letter, dated July 13th, 1531, she
left Windsor on the 14th, and afterwards went to
take up her residence at Ampthill, and wrote from
there to Pope Clement VII., to inform him that
she had been sent away from the king's Court.*
* Letters and Papers, Gairdner. Introduction, vol. v, p. xi, pub-
lished in 1880, after the work of M. Du Boys. "Wo are now in
possession of a more circumstantial account than has hitherto been
accessible of Henry's separation from the queen. Long as he had
already been a stranger to her bed, it was not till July, 1531, that he
parted company with Catharine altogether. The chronicler Hall in-
CATHARINE SENT FROM COURT. 185
In the month of January, and the following month of
May, 1532, the pope addressed monitory briefs to
Henry VIIL, admirable in their paternal tone and
forms us that, after Whitsuntide in this year, the king and queen
removed to Windsor, where thoy remained together till the 14th of
July, when the king left her, and remained for some little time longer
at Windsor, but was afterwards removed to Moore, and again to
Easthamsted, and from that time she and the king never met again.
This account is entirely confirmed by the despatches of Chapuys, who
further tells us that the queen complained of not being allowed to
speak with her husband at his departure, as it would have been a
consolation at least to have bid him adieu ; and that Henry sent her
a bitter answer, after taking coimsel with the Duke of Norfolk and
Gardiner, that he was very much offended at her for causing him to
be cited personally to Rome, and for refusing a reasonable offer he had
made to her by his council to allow the cause to be decided by some
other tribunal." See Chapuys to Charles V., 17th July, p. 160, and
also, " The lady only allows three or four months for the nuptials. She
is preparing her state royal by degrees, and has just taken an almoner
and other officers. She goes along with the king to the chase ; and the
queen, who used to follow, has been commanded by the king to stay at
Windsor, &c.," 31st July, p. 167. " According to the custom that was
between them of visiting each other every three days, the queen sent
to the king six days ago to inquire of his health, &c. — the letter had
no address, probably because they mean to change her name, and have
not determined what title to give her. The princess is now with her.
They amuse themselves by himting, and visiting the royal houses
round Windsor," 19th August, p. 188. " The king, under pretence of
hunting about Windsor, has ordered the queen to dislodge, and retire
to More, a house belonging to St. Alban's, and the princess to Rich-
mond," 10th September, p. 204. "The queen is exceeding sorry that the
king has refused her certain houses to which she wished to retire, and
has commanded her to go to one of the worst in England." Catharine to
Charles V., 15th December, dated " At Mur," Moor Park, in Hertford-
shire, p. 270, May 22nd, 1532, Chapuys, p. 475. " Since the presen-
tation (of the brief) he has ordered the queen to remove, after these
holidays, to a house much further off than where she is now, and with
bad accommodation," 26th August, p. 456. " The queen is in a house
of the Bishop of Ely, seventeen miles from London," October 1st. " Eight
days ago the king met the princess in the fields, but did not say much
186 CATHxVRINE OF ARAGON.
their truly apostolic feeling. They are quoted almost
at full length.*
"Report is prevalent that you have some time
ago banished the noble Queen Catharine, your spouse,
with whom you have so far lived in holy union. For
your honour we hope that this report is false. We
are informed that the queen is supplanted by an
unworthy rival, named Anne Boleyn. We are infi-
nitely grieved at anything so contrary to your duty^
such a scandal to the Church, and so opposed to the
peace of your royal house. We have no doubt that,
when you have recovered from this impulse, you will
yourself condemn a passion so little worthy of your
glory, and so fatal to your repose. A prince so just
and religious, as you have always been, cannot re-
main long in a state so inconsistent with his piety.
"You have defended the honour of the Church with
your pen and with your arms. Will you stain it by
your actions, despise its authority, and insult its
ordinances ? You have been the umpire of Christen-
dom, and mediator of the princes of Europe, will you
sow dissension in your own family ? I address you
as father before proceeding to judgment. This is a
duty owed to your services and my gratitude. Do
to her, except to ask how she was, and assure her that in future he
would see her more often. It is certain that the king does not bring
her where the lady is, for she does not wish to see her or hear of her."
November 5th and 11th, Catharine to Charles V., pp. 641, 647, dated
from Arforde Castel (Hertford). (Ed.)
* We have compounded the two briefs addressed to Henry. As
this is M. Boys' composition, wo translate it as it is. (Ed.)
THE pope's letters. 1«7
not cause such a sorrow to the Catholics, or roatter
of triumph to the heretics. All the actions of princes
have results. Being a station raised above others,
they attract the eyes of all, and everyone wishes to
copy them. A Christian prince ought to have a care
of public order ; his glory is concerned in advancing
it. You also should do justice to the deserts of the
queen, daughter of a great king, aunt of an emperor,
mother of a princess, the precious offspring of your
mutual affection and inviolable pledge.' After being
married twenty years, ought she to expect a divorce
as the reward of her cares and her virtues? Recall
the queen, dismiss her rival ; do not tarnish the
glory of a whole reign by one action. Do not insult
the emperor so openly ; do not throw Christendom
open to the inroads of the Turks. Charles and
Ferdinand cannot protect it, if they are obliged to
make war on you. Consider what a source of evil
you will be by continuing in your present course.
Consider the troubles you will bring upon the Church
if you proceed to a fresh marriage, without even await-
ing its decision. If my exhortation is unavailing, re-
course to severe remedies proportioned to the great-
ness of the evil will become a necessity."
Notwithstanding the pope's exhortations, matters
continued to be driven on to the last extremity.
After Catharine had been turned out of her palace
and banished from Court, she was further despoiled
of all the honours due to her rank as queen. Her
188 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
daughter was harshly torn from her, and no longer
treated like a legitimate child. The various bodies
of the state had not attended to the pope's warning
against venturing on the question of divorce before
judgment had been given at Kome. Henry VIII.
bad entered upon his contest against the clergy and
against the pope's prerogatives with remarkable
audacity; he evidently was preparing to untie or
break the last link that bound him to the centre of
<yatholic unity. The pope had readily conceded a
delay of some months before proceeding to a final
judgment at the request of the English ambassadors,
but the promise made to him to, meanwhile, keep
everything as it was, in legal phraseology, had been
openly broken.
About this time, the month of April, 1532, the
parliament had spoken out concerning Annates more
hastily and violently than the king had wished.*
The House of Commons also proposed to abolish
the oath which the bishops took to the pope. The
king did not reject these two measures, but he would
not give his assent to them. Probably he was play-
ing a double game. He had caused them to be
proposed by members under his influence, so that
they might not seem to originate with himself, while
* The annates were the revenue the pope received from bishop-
rics left vacant. [The annates, or first-fruits, were the first year's
Income required by the pope from any bishop on his appointment.
Lingard, vol. iv, p. 147.] (Ed.)
NICHOLAS TEMSE. 18^
the delay in the assent was a conditional threat
hung over the head of the pope. But, as a counter-
poise to these concessions in religious matters, a
member, named Nicholas Temse, made a remarkable
motion, clearly showing that Catharine's personal
popularity had survived the ruin of even the ponti-
fical authority ; he moved that the king should be
entreated by the House of Commons to be willing .
to take back his lawful wife, and not to marry
another, for violent contests might ensue between
the children of the two marriages, resulting in dread-
ful civil wars for England. Temse was very favour-
ably listened to by most of his colleagues. Henry
Vni.'s wrath may be imagined when he heard of
such an attempt at opposition, altogether unusual
and unforeseen, from a member of the lower chamber.
He immediately caused a message to be sent to the
House by the speaker, Thomas Audley, "That he-
wondered any amongst them should meddle in busi-
ness which could not be properly determined in
their House, and with which they had no concern ;
that he was only actuated by a regard for the good
of his soul ; that he wished the marriage with Catha-
rine were unobjectional, but, unfortunately, the
doctors of the universities having declared it con-
trary to the Word of God, he could do no less than
abstain from her company ; that wantonness of ap-
petite was not to be imputed to him, for, being now
in his forty-first year, it might justly be presumed
190 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that 8uch notions were not so strong in him as
formerly." *
On the 14th of May, 1532, the parliament was
prorogued. Two days afterwards Sir Thomas More,
seeing with anxiety the increase of dissension be-
tween the Courts of England and Rome, sent in his
resignation of the office of Lord Chancellor. Thomas
. Audley, Speaker of the House of Commons, succeed-
ed to the dignity. He was a learned and clever
lawyer, but quite unprincipled, and called the great
seller of justice. f
Still there was excitement at Rome and in Eng-
land on account of the pope's last brief; for when a
month had expired, if the king did not take back his
lawful wife, he would incur the threatened censure
and excommunication. A letter of Nicholas Raince
to the King of France informs us that he had pre-
vailed on Clement VII. to suspend the effect of his
censures for a certain time.f
Henry VIII. had again sent three ambassadors to
the pope — Bonner, Benett, and Edward Carne. He
had allowed the latter to take the title of excusator,
to attend the suit in the Pontifical Court. The
report of the Court of the Rota had been concluded,
and presented to the consistory. The ambassadors
* Histoire du Divorce, Legrand, vol. i, p. 223. [Lord
Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. i, p. 603.] (Ed.)
t Letter of M. de Marillac, quoted by J. Legrand, vol. i, p. 223.
X Histoire du Divorce, Legrand, vol. iii, p. 569.
THE pope's hearing. 191
had asked Clement not to summon their master to
Rome, but to appoint fresh commissioners to judge
the Buit in England. This was formally refused.
Afterwards, they complained of having no advocate
authorised to plead for the king, and were told that
any advocate of the Rota was quite free to take up
his cause. Memorials were written and printed. At
first it had been resolved that the matter, after the
first day, should be publicly argued in open Court
before the full consistory. But during the night,
from the 15th to the 16th of February, the pope
changed his mind, and preferred to give a first
hearing to the ambassadors and advocates in private
and separately.
The Spanish ambassadors were first introduced
into the chamber where Clement VII. sat. They
pointed out to him that the King of England had
not commissioned any of his diplomatic agents to
represent him in the suit being tried at Rome, nor
even to Edward Carne, who said he was his excusa-
tor, a title newly invented, and unknown in the
practice of law, either canonical or civil ; they said
that there was nothing officially to show that Henry
VIII. acknowledged the competency of the Court of
Rome, and that the pretended excusator and his
colleagues should be required to produce letters of
credence, or powers of attorney in proper rule,
before they were allowed to plead to the consistory
for the prince they said was their client. The pope
192 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
listened a long time to them, and did not seem
to pay much attention to these points of objec-
tion.*
As soon as they were gone, a private audience
was granted to Gregorio Casale and Ghinucci, the
Bishop of Worcester. They both asserted that, as
the King of England was not obh'ged to appear in
person or by attorney, the excusator ought to be
sufficient whom he had sent, and his counsel should
be heard. This reasoning and subtle reservation of
Henry VIII. was not much more to the pope's taste.
Then he left the ante-room, put on a stole, and went
into the consistory, after having cleared the court of
the public. There he conversed for some time with
several cardinals, the master of the ceremonies, the
datary, and some prelates. Then the advocates
were summoned, and desired to speak. Sigismund
Dandolo spoke first for the King of England, and
maintained that he was not obliged to appear at
Rome either in person or by attorney, and added
that there was an excusator present who desired to
be heard only as an Englishman, who wished to
defend the interests and independence of his coun-
try. Don Pedro of Aragon, who appeared for the
queen, spoke after Dandolo, and accused him of
* Journal of Clement VII., written by Blosius Baronius de
MartineUis, MS., St.-Germain-des-Pres. Histoire du Divorce,
Legrand, vol. i, p. 227. The imprimatur had been granted at
Rome to Henry VIII.'s memorial.
ANOTHER HEARING. 193
doing nothing but beating about the bush, and
eluding the real question of the suit. Then Charles
V.'s ambassadors themselves interposed, requesting
the English to produce their powers, and declare in
whose name thej acted, and saying that, if they
would not, there was no occasion to continue the
debate. There was so much heat about it that the
pope and the cardinals closed the sitting, greatly
scandalized at the disrespectful and unsuitable bear-
ing of both parties.
On the next 28th of February, there was another
consistory on the same subject. Dandolo, Michael
de Corandis, and Providelli argued for the King of
England, and Don Pedro of Aragon for Queen
Catharine. The audience was much more numerous.
The arguments were very violent and debates very
stormy. An author of the time says that during the
six months that the business lasted the Romans
went to the consistory as if to a play.* The car-
dinals wished an immediate decision against the
King of England. But Clement VII., hoping to ob-
tain some concessions from him, adjourned the busi-
ness to the month of November, after the vacation.
Meanwhile, he sent a message to Henry VIII. that
he must send a power of attorney to his excusator,
and that, if he would do so, the pope would not
oppose a fresh inquisition being held in England.
* Letters of Mgr. d'Auxerre and others, p. 176 et seq. of the
Melanges of Camusat.
VOL. II.
194 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
On their side, the English ambassadors did not hide
from their master that popular feeling was against
him, that all the Romans clamoured for a decision
against him, and that it would certainly have been
pronounced if final judgment had been given.
Meanwhile, Clement VII., who always recoiled
from this inexorable sentence, conceived the idea of
calling in the intervention of Francis I., and begging
him to do all in his power to induce Henry VIII. to
come to some terms that might evade the difficulty.
This was a last resource on which the unhappy
pope depended. An interview was to take place
soon after between the two kings. The King of
France, who was himself animated with most con-
ciliatory sentiments, promised that he would make
use of this opportunity to beg Henry to stop on the
brink of the chasm. Francis I., as we shall see
afterwards, kept his word — at least, as far as he
could. Whatever may be our judgment of the
character of that king, it must be allowed that
he resisted the torrent of reform, or rather religi-
ous revolt, of the sixteenth century, that he pre-
served France, and tried to preserve England to
Catholicism.*
* He persecuted the Reformers in his own dominions when he
was in alliance with the pope, but he was the supporter of the
Lutherans in Germany. (Ed.)
195
CHAPTER XX.
Du Bellay indulges Anne Boleyn's Whims — Anne made
Marchioness of Pembroke — Meeting of Henry Vm. and
Francis I. at Boulogne ; no Lady of the French Court
chooses to be present — Secret Marriage of Henry VHI.
and Anne Boleyn — Cranmer is appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury, and accepted by the Pope — His Consecra-
tion and Qualified Oath — Severe Eeproaches addressed
to him by Pole — Bossuet's Opinion of this Prelate.
DU BELLAY remained as ambassador in England
all through the years 1531 and 1532, and con-
tinued in favour with Henry VHI. In order to keep
up this favour, he intimates in his correspondence
that he is obliged to pay his court to Anne Boleyn ;
but a close examination of his letters makes it clear
that this necessity was not disagreeable to him. He
appears as the honnete homme in the meaning* that
the expression retained even under Louis XIV., and,
as will be seen, applies it to himself with a modest
denial of his title to the appellation.
He becomes the channel of communication to the
* Accomplished man of the world; what the English call a
perfect gentleman.
o2
196 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Marshal de Montmorency of the King of England's
wish to have a private interview with Francis I. ;
and he insinuates that if that king could induce
Henry VIII. to take Anne Boleyn with him on his
journey to France he would do his royal brother
great pleasure, and says that he knew it from a sure
source. " The greatest pleasure that the king can
do to this king and Madame Anne is to write to Du
Bellay to ask the king to bring Madame Anne with
him to Calais, so that they may not be there without
ladies ; but then the king must bring the Queen of
Navarre with him to Boulogne. Will not say where
he heard this, as he has sworn not to. The king
does not wish the queen to come, for he hates the
Spanish costume, * tant qiCil luy semble veoir nn diable*
fle would be very glad if the king would bring the
princes to Boulogne, where they and the ladies
would stay. Norfolk says he hopes that Mont-
morency and he will arrange this interview so well
that it will redound to the honour of both of them.
Advises him to remove from the Court two classes
of men, imperialists if there are any, and those who
have the reputation of being mockers and jesters,
who are as much hated as any people by this nation.
Will soon send the roll of those whom this king will
take with him." *
And so, to gratify Anne Boleyn's whim, the suite
of Francis I. was to be made up in a peculiar fashion ;
* Gairdner, Calendar, vol. v, p. 621. (Ed.)
DU BELL ay's LETTER. 197
he was to bring the Queen of Navarre with him, but
not Eleanor of Austria. What is to be thought of
such demands, and how could the Bishop of Bayonne
have consented to be the interpreter of them ? This
incredible condescension is somewhat explained by
the rest of the letter.
" The king makes him good cheer, and treats him
familiarly. Is alone with him all day hunting, and
he talks about all his private affairs, and takes as
much pains to show him sport as if he were a great
personage. Sometimes he places Madame Anne and
the bishop (Du Bellay) together with their cross-
bows to shoot the deer as they pass, and in other
places to see coursing. Whenever they come to any
house of the king's, he shows it to Du Bellay, and
tells him what he has done and what he is going to
do. Lady Anne has presented Du Bellay with a
hunting-frock and hat, horn and greyhound. Tells
him this to show him how the affection of the King
of England for Francis increases, for all that the
lady does is by the king's order."
Du Bellay does not quite attribute Lady Anne
Boleyn's favours and his success with her to his
qualities as a 'perfect genilemati, but explains them by
Henry VIII.'s policy. But he takes a pleasure in
telling how he is sometimes alone with the lady to
see the deer go by, and complacently describes the
hunting-dress she had given him.
The English bishops who had now sold themselves
198 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to Henry VIII. are with justice greatly blamed.
What can we say of the French bishop who is so far
forgetful of episcopal dignity and gravity at the
king's Court?
About this time Anne Boleyn was made Mar-
chioness of Pembroke* by the king's patent, with a
pension of a thousand pounds a year, and a great
deal of furniture and valuable presents.f
At last, by the month of September, 1532, the
conditions of the meeting between the two kings
were arranged. Francis I. consented with some
reluctance that the new Marchioness of Pembroke
should be one of the company ; but when she arrived
at Boulogne on the 21st of October, with her royal
lover and a great many attendants, she found there
neither the King of France's sister nor any other
lady of his Court. The French ambassador's sugges-
* September 1st, 1532.
t It was also about this time that a curious circumstance must
have taken place, showing once more the unpopularity of Anne
Boleyn, especially with those of her own sex. One day she was
in a house a short distance from London, taking part in a picnic
near a stream, when six or eight thousand women collected to
carry her off by main force, and would have treated her very badly
if she had not escaped, and got away in time by a cross road. It
must be observed that the king was not present at this party, and
that there were some great ladies disguised amongst this large
assembly. It seems that Anne Boleyn concealed the affair for her
own sake, for there was no inquiry nor prosecution. A letter
written to the French ambassador by the Venetian ambassador
(probably Lodovico FaUiero). Venetian Calendar, Rawdon Brown,
vol. iv, p. 248.
MEETING OF THE KINGS. 199
tions had not been attended to. Though the Queen
of Navarre was not regarded as very austere, she
would not compromise her dignity by entering into
communication with a female whose position was at
least false and equivocal.* The severity of such a
lesson must have been felt by the object of it.
When Henry had been four days at Boulogne,
Francis returned his visit by accompanying him to
Calais. There, after a magnificent supper, the door
opened, and twelve ladies in masks entered, and each
chose a cavalier to dance with her. Then the masks
were removed, and Francis I.'s partner turned out to
be Anne Boleyn ; he conversed courteously with her,
and next day sent her a diamond worth fifteen or
sixteen thousand crowns. The king's gallantry and
the valuable jewel might be a sufficient compensation
for the bitter disappointment of the first meeting at
Boulogne.
Henry VHI. and Francis I. had some great political
interests for serious discussion ; they agreed to raise
an army of eighty thousand men, on pretence of
making war against the Turks, but in reality as a
check upon the emperor. They compared the causes
of resentment they thought they had against the
pope ; but Henry wished to exasperate the King of
* This abstinence was remarkable, especially from the former
connection of Anne Boleyn with the Princess Margaret when she
was Duchess of Alen^on. [Margaret's character was unblem-
ished.] (Ed.)
200 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
France against Rome, and Francis had ideas of con-
ciliation in the background. The former, full of
personal anxiety lest he might lose his suit before the
Roman Court, wanted to drive matters to extremity,
and obtain the convocation of a general council ; the
King of France, v^ith some difficulty, reduced his
notions to more moderate bounds. It veas at last
agreed betvs^een the two kings that Francis I. should
invite the pope to come to Marseilles, and that the
King of England should go thither in person, or be
represented there by one of the greatest noblemen of
his country ; that Francis should send Cardinals De
Tournon and De Grammont to Rome to settle the
preliminaries and conditions of this congress ; that at
the same time he should protest, on behalf of the
dignity of the crowned heads, against the claim of
the sovereign pontiff to cite the King of England,
like a private person, before the high court of justice
at Rome ; and that Henry should abstain from any
fresh act of hostility to the papacy until the termina-
tion of the conference at Marseilles.
Nevertheless at Rome judicial action was resumed
in the divorce suit. Capisucci, the Dean of the Rota,
again cited Henry VHI. to appear in person before
the consistory, or to send an accredited proctor as his
representative ; while the King of England, through
Doctor Benett, made a proposal to refer the case to
four umpires, one of whom was to be the Archbishop
of Canterbury, another the Bishop of London, a third to
MARRIAGE TO ANNE. 201
be selected by Catharine, and the fourth by Francis I.
At the same time he required that the trial should
take place in England. The pope proposed to send
commissioners to Cambrai; and the king rejected
this expedient. Clement wrote again to Henry,
offering to appoint a legate and two assessors of the
Rota to hear the case in a neuti-al place, and reserv-
ing decision on the evidence to himself. The king
again rejected this conciliatory offer.
Now not long after his return to England he took
the decisive step, that is to say, he decided on marry-
ing Anne Boleyn in private.
Instead of being surprised at this determination,
there is rather reason to be surprised why he had
been so long about it. Lingard explains this by his
fear lest she, from whom he expected an heir to the
crown, might have no children.* But when Henry
had hopes of this heir be hesitated no longer, and
hastened his union with Anne Boleyn. And here we
borrow the account of this clandestine marriage from
a contemporary, Harpsfield, the Archdeacon of
Canterbury.
*' The first whereof was that the king was married
to (the) Lady Anne BuUeyne long ere there was any
divorce made by the said Archbishop (of Canterbury).
The which marriage was secretly made at Whitehall
very early before day, none being present but Mr.
Norris and Mr. Henage, of the privy chamber, and
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 188.
202 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
the Lady Barkeley, with Mr. Rowland, the king's
chaplain, that was afterwards made Bishop of Coven-
try and Lichfield. To whom the king told that now
he had gotten of the pope a lycence to marry another
wife, and yet, to avoid business and tumult, the thing
must be done (quoth the king) very secretly; and
thereupon a time and place was appointed to the
said Master Rowland to solemnise the said marriage.
*'At which time Mr. Rowland being come accord-
ingly, and seeing all things ready for celebration of
mass, and to solemnise the wedding, being in a great
dump and staggering, came to the king and said,
* Sir, I trust you have the pope's lycence, both that
you may marry, and that I may join you together in
marriage.' * What else V quoth the king. Upon this
he turned to the altar and revested himself, but yet
not so satisfied, and, troubled in mind, he cometh
eftsoones to the king, and saith, ' This matter toucheth
us all very nighe, and therefore it is expedient that
the lycence be read before us all, or else we run all
— and I more deep than any other — into excommuni-
cation, in marrying your grace without any baynes
asking, and in a place unhallowed, and no divorce as
yet promulgated of the first matrimony.' The king,
looking upon him very amiably, * Why, Master Row-
land,' quoth he, ' think you me a man of so small
faith and credit — you, I say, that do well know my
life passed, and even now have heard my confession ?
or think you me a man of so small and slender fore-
PERFORMANCE OP THE CEREMONY. 203
«ight and consideration of my affairs that, unless all
things were safe and sure, I would enterprise this
matter? I have truly a lycence, but it is reposed in
another sure place whereto no man resorteth but
myself, which, if it were seen, should discharge us
all. But if I should, now that it waxeth towards
day, fetch it, and be seen so early abroad, there
would rise a rumour and talk there of other than
were convenient. Goe forth in God's name, and do
that which appertaineth to you. I will take upon
me all danger.' " *
The chaplain Rowland determined to begin the
mass and perform the marriage ceremony. Harpsfield
severely says, " This is, then, one error and fault.
For, though the first marriage were not good, yet
could not the king marry before the sentence of
divorce, unless he should have (had) two wives
living all at one time."
This marriage was performed in obscurity, with-
out noise or ceremony, like a work of darkness and
shame. Some months afterwards, the future Queen
Elizabeth was to be born of this union. f
* Pretended Divorce, Harpsfield, pp. 234, 235. Marginal note.
This Doctor Rowland's surname was Lee, and for performing
the ceremony was made Bishop of Lichfield. Wood's Athenae
Oxonienses.
t The date of November 14, 1532, given for Anne Boleyn's
marriage, was a fresh deceit, propagated with a view to make sure
of the legitimacy of the infant soon to be bom. Lingard explains
this in a special note, and shows that the real date was the 26th of
January of the following year, voL vi, p. 190.
204 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Parliament met on the 4th of February, and con-
tinued the war against the Romish Church. It re-
newed the statutes of prcemunire passed in the reigns
of Edward I., Edward III., Richard II., and Henry
IV. England, according to one of the bills passed
on this occasion, was a united state that should be
sufficient in itself (a perfect state), and not recognise
any foreign power, neither in spiritualities nor in
temporalities. And, therefore, it enacted that all
matters ecclesiastical or mixed — marriages being
among them — should be judged by the Dean of the
Arches, or by the English bishops, without any re-
servation or appeal to the Court of Rome. When
matters of this kind presented especial difficulty, the
king might cause the upper house of convocation to
decide upon them.
Whilst parliament was still sitting, the King of
England sent the Earl of Wiltshire to France to in-
form Francis I. of his marriage, and announce to him
that he had nothing now to do with the pope. The
King of France was displeased at this information.
He represented to the earl that he had sent the Car-
dinals de Grammont and Tournon to negotiate with
Clement VII. for a meeting at Marseilles, as had
been agreed, and that he could not break off these
negotiations without loss of honour. At last Francis
prevailed on Henry to continue the appointment of
the Duke of Norfolk, who had been selected to attend
the conference with the pope. The Earl of Wiltshire
CRANMER ARCHBISHOP. 205
was much annoyed at this selection, as he was a
great political opponent of the duke, though his
brother-in-law.*
Meanwhile Henry VIII. pursued his designs in
England as if nothing fresh had occurred in France.
Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, though he
might reproach himself with some weakness in giving
way to the king concerning the divorce, was not de-
sirous of a breach with Rome, and held firmly to his
attachment to the Apostolic See. Cromwell was
furious when he found this aged prelate make an
unexpected resistance, and proposed that he should
be prosecuted for rebellion and high treason; and
when he was told that it was not so easy to prose-
cute one of the Lord's anointed, a primate of England,
the insolent minister replied he would observe his
dignity and give him a gibbet twice as high as the
highwaymen's. But Warham died in the month of
August, 1532, and there was no need to resort to an
act of judicial iniquity, in order to raise an arch-
bishop, obedient to all the whims of Henry VIII., to
the throne of Canterbury. This archbishop was
Cranmer, who is considered the chief author of the
Reformation in England.
There are some statements as to his hesitation to
accept, either on account of his recent marriage, or
the fears he entertained, in spite of all his good-will,
* This complete oppoaition between members of one family is
characteristic of the times.
206 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that he might not always be able to satisfy the im-
perious whims of the King of England.* But at last,
after six months, he yielded to the king's wishes —
not a very long delay, according to the practice of
the Roman cancellaria, for the confirmation of the
appointment. It would no doubt have been rejected
by the pope if he had received sufficient information
concerning this disguised Lutheran.
Meanwhile Francis I. continued his attempts at
reconciliation between the pope and the King of
England in good faith ; though the latter only
agreed to them for form's sake, and with an in-
difference more or less pointed.
Francis I.'s influence with Clement VII. had much
increased since he had asked and obtained the hand
of the pope's niece, Catharine de* Medici, for his son.
But what could this influence do, if Henry VIII.
disdained to make use of it?
Francis had been desirous of marrying his daugh-
ter to the young King of Scotland, to cement an
alliance between that prince, France, and the Court
of Rome, so as to be able to resist the emperor.
This proposed alliance was very ill-received by-
Henry VIII.
He was more inconvenienced than thankful for the
attempts the King of France continued to make in
his favour. Sure of having the lately-appointed
* See the Life of Cranmer, by Todd, voL i, p. 51.
CRANMER'S CONSECRATION. 207
Primate of England in his favour, he was not much
troubled about what might take place at Rome or in
France.
After having asked, and received bulls from the
pope, with special authorisation from Henry VIII., it
seemed that Cranmer had merely to be consecrated
Archbishop of Canterbury. But two or three days
before the ceremony, with the royal approbation, he
had to swear that he renounced all the clauses,
sentences, and injunctions contained in the pope's
bulls, wherever they were in any respect prejudicial
to the dignity or rights of the king, and claims of
his heirs and successors. He acknowledged that he
owed his appointment as archbishop, and all append-
ages to the title, to the king alone. And lastly,
promised obedience and fidelity to his grace, upon
the Gospel, by the help of God.*
The ceremony of consecration had been fixed for
the 30th of March, 1533, and was to take place in
Westminster Abbey. In order to explain and qualify
beforehand the oath he was about to take to the
sovereign pontiff, before his unction, he summoned a
notary and four witnesses into the sacristy of Saint
Stephen's Chapel. He then made a protest that the
oath he was just going to take to the sovereign
pontiflf, whatever the terms might be, should not
bind him to do anything contrary to the laws of
* Strype, Appendix, No. vii, p. 10.
208 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
England and the king's prerogative, nor be pro-
hibitory of any religious reforms that might be
thought desirable for England.*
Then he went into the church, put on his robes,
went to the high altar, where the Bishops of Exeter,
Lincoln, and Saint Asaph were standing, and, hold-
ing the Pontifical in his hand, he turned towards
his witnesses, aside, saying that he only took the
oath under the qualifications and protests he had
just made. Then he read the form of the oath,
and swore upon the Gospel he would keep it faith-
fully.t
The consecrating bishops were ignorant of the
protests he had made out of their presence. Cer-
tainly the sovereign pontiff had only issued his bulls
to Cranmer on condition of the full and complete
oath of fidelity that was his due ; any alteration or
* " Non est meae voluntatis, nee intentionis per hujusmodi
juramentum qualitercumque verba in his posita sonare videbuntur,
me obligate ad faciendum aut obligandimi quod est aut esse
videbitur contra legem Dei, aut contra Anglise leges et prseroga-
tivas Regis ; — et non intendo quovis modo me obligare quominus
libere loqui consulere et consentire valeam in omnibus et singulis
reformationem religionis christianae quoquo modo concernentibus,
etc." Strype, Cranmer, Appendix, No. v, p. 9. Ecclesiastical
Memorials, London, 1721, 3 vols., folio.
f *' Behold him," says Bossuet, "a specimen of a Lutheran,
married, and concealing his marriage, archbishop of the Romish
priesthood, subject to the pope, whose power he abhorred in his
heart ; saying mass he did not believe, and giving authority to
say it, and, nevertheless, according to M. Burnett, one of the most
perfect bishops that ever was in the church." Histoire des
Variations, liv. vii.
pole's letter. 209
diminution of the scope of this oath was destruc-
tive of the force of the bulls that gave him the
power of archbishop in England. It was trifling
with holy things, and purchasing the highest dignities
of the church by solemn perjury.
Reginald Pole addressed a letter to Cranmer him-
self, exclaiming, " That he had only been selected for
the dignity for the sake of gratifying a shameful pas-
sion, and cloaking it with some show of law and jus-
tice ; for it is plain that was the only reason he had
been made archbishop. That he was known to few
before, and least of all to the giver of the dignity. Far
from any of them thinking he was fit to be the head
of the English clergy, he did not think so himself,
and he would not have been appointed if he had not
found that way of intruding himself into the Saviour's
fold."
After that can there be any doubt that he
entered in by the window, and not by the door, or
rather crept into the sanctuary by hidden ways, like
a thief and a robber 1*
The first pastoral visitation that Cranmer made
in his province was intended to establish firmly the
ecclesiastical primacy of the King of England, and
on this Bossuet observes, in his vigorous and bold
language, " Then the complaisant archbishop had
nothing so much at heart ; and the first act of
jurisdiction done by the bishop of the premier See
* Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. i, p. 252.
VOL. n. p
210 CATHARINE OF ARAGK)N.
of England was to put the church under the yoke,
and to subject the power she had received from on
high to earthly kings." *
* Histoire des Variations, voL vii, p. 329 ; small 12iiio edition.
211
CHAPTER XXI.
Portrait of Clement VII., by a Venetian Ambassador —
Play acted between Henry VIII. and Cranmer — Meet-
ing of Bishops and Divines, and majority in Favour of
the Divorce — An Ecclesiastical Court, with Cranmer as
President, pronounces a Sentence of Divorce between
Henry VTH. and Catharine of Aragon — The same Cran-
mer confirms and legitimises the Marriage contracted by
the King with Anne Boleyn — Catharine's Correspond-
ence with her Daughter — Communication of the Sentence
of Divorce to Henry VHI. and Catharine — Catharine
will not renounce her title of Queen — His Protests and
Erasures — Her Moral Victory over Henry VIII. — Fisher
and More under Espial in their Retirement.
THERE is a portrait of Clement VII., drawn by a
Venetian ambassador to Rome, about the time
we have reached. " Prudent and wise, but long in
coming to a decision, and giving rise to various
conjectures, he talks well, he sees everything, but
he can begin nothing. In statecraft no one is his
superior; he hears what all have to say, and then
only does what he thinks himself; he is just and
devoted to God. He has not the spirit of magnifi-
cence peculiar to Leo X., though he is very charit-
able ; most self-restrained, economical in his mode
p2
212 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
of living, he will not have any jesters or musicians,
and is no sportsman. Since he has been pope, he
has only twice gone to Magnana, Leo X.'s villa." *
Clement VII.'s continual irresolution is quite
enough to explain how he could again defer his
judgment in the divorce suit, after information of
Anne Boleyu's marriage had reached him, and even
after still more decisive acts in open insult to the
pope's authority.
In London no time was lost by the partisans of
the divorce. Cranmer had been consecrated on the
30th of March, and in the early part of April he in-
stituted proceedings by calling a meeting of bishops,
divines, and lawyers, to give their opinion as to the
legitimacy of the marriage of Henry VIIL and Catha-
rine of Aragon. Of the eighty-two divines, sixty-six
said that the marriage was clearly unlawful and
void ; but there was still a bold minority of sixteen
to say no. Of the forty-four lawyers, six only voted
against the king.
Henry VUI. re-commenced a comedy like that he
had played with Wolsey, but it was to be more
complete, and carried on to the very end. Cranmer,
in the name of the laws of Holy Church, demanded
the king's permission to have the suit tried by the
archiepiscopal court of the province of (Canterbury.
Henry declared that he did not recognise the supre-
macy of the church in such matters ; then Cranmer
* Vol. vii of the Italian Collection, pp. 217, 306, et se(i.
ECCLESIASTICAL COURT. 213
tnade a fresh demand for authorization, but in the
name of God alone,* and the licence to act was
immediately granted him. An ecclesiastical court
was therefore appointed to be held on May 8th at
Dunstable, a few miles from Ampthill, Catharine's
residence. She was cited three times, and did not
appear ; she was then declared contumacious. Cran-
mer's assessors were Longlands, Bishop of Lincoln,
and Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and eight doc-
tors of canon law. And on Friday, May 23rd, 1533,
Cranmer gave sentence on the finding of the court,
that in the name of God the marriage of Henry and
Catharine was null and void, as having been con-
tracted and completed in violation of divine right.
Cranmer, communicating this sentence to Henry
in an official letter, gravely exhorts him to submit
to the will of God, and on that condition declares
him free from the censures he had incurred by living
in unlawful connection with his brother's wife. Pole
asks him if he had not laughed within himself when
he thus acted the strict judge towards the king, and
alluded to the risk he had run of being struck by
the thunderbolts of heaven.f
But this was not all ; this commencement had to
be finished up by declaring the marriage of Henry
and Anne Boleyn retrospectively valid, so as to
leave no doubt as to the legitimacy of the children
* See State Papers, published in 1847, vol. i, pp. 890, 391.
t Poli, Epist., De Sacram. Eucharistix, p. 6.
214 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that might come, and their right to succeed to the
crown. No doubt this union had taken place before
the first marriage was annulled, but no difficulty
could stop such docile judges and complaisant casu-
ists as Cranmer and his worthy assessors.
Cranmer therefore held another judicial sitting at
Lambeth on May 28th ; and then, after having heard
the king's power of attorney read, and examined
various witnesses, he declared that Henry and Anne
Boleyn had been joined in lawful marriage ; that this
marriage had not been clandestine, but public and
manifest, and that, if need were, he would confirm it
by his judicial and archiepiscopal authority.*
As soon as the pretended judgment against Catha-
rine had been pronounced, she had written to the
pope to inform him that she had been banished from
the Court to Ampthill. Harshly parted from her
daughter, she wrote to her not to make vain lamen-
tations over her own fate, but advising her to apply
diligently to her studies, under the direction of her
new tutor, Doctor Featherstone.
" Daughter,
*' I pray you think not that forgetfulness has
caused me to keep Charles so long here, and answered
* As Bossuet points out, the unworthy weakness of Cranmer,
his gross ingratitude to Anne, and his shameful complaisance in
quashing all his marriages at Henry VIII's. will, deprive his first
judgment of all appearance of authority that the name of arch-
bishop might have given it. Histoire des Variations, liv. vii.
THE queen's letter. 215
not your good letter, in the which I perceive ye
would know how I do. I am in that case that the
absence of the king and you troubleth me. My health
is metely good ; and I trust in God He who sent it
me doth it to the best, and will shortly turn to come
with good effect. And in the meantime I am very
glad to hear from you, especially when they show
me that ye be well amended. I pray God to con-
tinue it to His pleasure.
" As for your writing in Latin, I am glad that ye
shall change from me to Maister Federstone ; for that
shall do you much good to learn from him to write
right, but yet sometimes I would be glad when ye do
write to Maister Federstone of your own enditing,
when he hath read it, that I may see it, for it shall
be a great comfort to me to see you keep your Latin
and fair writing and all. And so I pray to recom-
mend me to my lady of Salisbury.
" Your loving mother,
" Catharine the Queene.
"At Wobume, this Friday night,"*
The last part of this letter betrays the pupil of
Peter Martyr, the distinguished classical scholar who
had attracted the attention of Erasmus in his youth.
It is beautiful to see how this persecuted queen is
able to control the expression of her sorrow and
personal anxiety, thus to watch from a distance over
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 136.
216 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
her daughter's welfare, and procure for her a solid
education which offers so many resources and conso-
lations in all occurrences of life.
Soon after, Catharine wrote her daughter another
letter full of excellent advice, begging her to submit
to her father's will with patience and meekness ; she
feared, with good reason, that Mary might displease
the king by the expression of her complaints, and
that the spies surrounding her might gather them up.
She felt that it would be unwise to risk damaging
any chance that might remain of the rightful heiress
of the crown some day gaining recognition and
triumph for her lawful claims. This letter contains
some expressions of affection for Lady Salisbury.
" Tell her that to the kingdom of heaven we never
come but through many troubles."
A little later the unhappy queen, having heard that
her daughter was ill, even condescended to write to
Cromwell and ask him to obtain permission for her
to see her child, saying "that a little comfort and
mirth she would take with me would be a half health
to her. For my love let this be done." But this
affecting request was cruelly refused. This last trial
was too hard and too bitter for Catharine ; she herself
fell ill in the house at Ampthill where she was re-
siding.*
Cranmer had caused both parties to be informed
of the sentence of divorce. He sent a notification of
* It was a country house of Sir Thomas More in Hertfordshire.
COMMUNICATION OP JUDGMENT. 217
the judgment to Henrj VIII., with threats of the
anger of heaven if he persisted in his unlawful com-
merce with his brother's widow. These threats were
tardy and illusive, for this intercourse thus stigmatised
had ceased for quite three years.*
The communication of the judgment to the queen
was of quite another character. It was conveyed to
her by Lord Mountjoy,t who had been her page, and
who was sent to inform her that she was degraded
from the rank and title of Queen of England. As
she was ill, he could not wait upon her till after three
or four days.
At last she received him, " lying upon her pallet,
because she had pricked her foot with a pin, so that
she might not well stand or go, and also sore
annoyed with a cough. Perceiving that many of
her servants were there assembled, who might hear
what should be said, she then demanded ' whether
we had our charge to say by mouth or by writing V
We said ' both ;' but as soon as we began to declare
and read that the articles were addressed to the
Princess Dowager, she made exception to that name,
saying she was not * Princess Dowager, but the
♦ An non tecum ipse ridebas cum tanquam severus judex regi
tninas intentares ? Poli, Epist. De sac. Euch.
t Miss Strickland, from whom we borrow this account, vol. iv,
p. 139, does not say that Lord Mountjoy was attended by Sir
Robert Dymoke, John Tyrrel, Griffith, Richard and Thomas de
Vaux. See their report in the State Papers. This was July 13th,
1533.
218 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
queen, and the king's true wife ; had been crowned
and anointed queen, and had by the king lawful
issue, wherefore, the name of queen she would vin-
dicate, challenge, and so call herself during her
lifetime.' "
It was in vain that Mountjoy and his coadjutors
alternately offered bribes and used threats. Catha-
rine remained firm in her determination. She treat-
ed all offers of augmentation to her income with
queenly contempt. They proceeded to tell her, if
she retained the name of queen, " she would (for
a vain desire and appetite of glory) provoke the
king's highness, not only against her whole house-
hold to their hindrance and undoing, but be an
occasion that the king should withdraw his fatherly
love from her honourable and dearest daughter the
Lady Princess Mary, which ought to move her if no
other cause did."
As they found that nothing would make Catharine
yield, they endeavoured to prove her, and terrify her
with threats directed towards her daughter. This
was the first time such a thing had been done.
Catharine would not be daunted, and quietly an-
swered, " As to any vain glory, it was not that she
desired the name of a queen, but only for the dis-
charge of her conscience to declare herself the king's
true wife, and not his harlot for the last twenty-four
years. As to the princess her daughter, she was the
king's true child, and as God had given her unto
THE QITEEN^S RESOLUTION. 21 &
them ; so, for her part, she would render her again
to the king as his daughter, to do with her as should
stand with his pleasure, trusting to God that she
would prove an honest woman ; and that neither for
her daughter, her servants, her possessions, or any
worldly adversity, or the king's displeasure that
might ensue she would yield in this cause to put her
soul in danger ; and that they should not be feared
that have power to kill the body, but He only that
hath power over the soul."
Then she caused the minute of proceedings,
brought by Lord Mountjoy, to be handed to her,
and drew her pen through the words " princess
dowager " wherever she found them, and substituted
" Queen of England." * This minute is preserved in
the national archives in London, with the alterations
and additions made by Catharine. Authentic and
everlasting protests against a great judicial iniquity .f
By permitting her to make these brave alterations,
Mountjoy, and the commissioners with him, allowed
her, by implication, the title in dispute, and she
made them feel her power as their queen both by her
dignified attitude and the authority of her words.
According to the orders he had received, Mountjoy
wished to exact an oath from Catharine's servants
* On July 5th, 1533, Henry withdrew the title of queen from
Catharine by official proclamation. See the text of this proclama-
tion in Rawdon Brown's Calendar, vol. iv, No. 933, p. 430.
t It appears that she had a copy in Spanish immediately
prepared.
220 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that they would only recognize and treat her as
Princess of Wales. She forbade them to take this
oath. However, several of them quitted her service,
only a few remained with her at all risks ; and as
Henry VHI. could not dismiss them all he was
obliged to excuse those who remained in attendance
on Catharine from the oath he had required.
This was another moral victory gained by the
deserted and friendless queen over the all-powerful
Henry VHI. The king's persecution recoiled before
the heroic constancy of some faithful servants.
221
CHAPTER XXII.
The Pope annuls the Sentence of Divorce, and threatens
Henry with Excommunication — Guillaume du Bellay
de Langey, French Ambassador in England — Cardinal
de Tournon, Ambassador at Rome — ^Norfolk and the Eng-
lish Ambassadors in France — They endeavour to separ-
ate France from Rome, and Norfolk advises Francis I.
to nominate a Gallican Patriarch — ^Norfolk accuses
Francis I.'s Domestic Policy of weakness in respect
of the Roman Court — Interview of Clement VII. and
Francis I. at Marseilles. — Improper Behaviour of the
English Ambassadors present — Conciliatory Mission of
Bishop Jean du Bellay to England and Italy — "Well
received by Henry VIII., he afterwards goes to Rome —
He sends a Dispatch to the King of England — ^Notwith-
standing the Promises made to Du Bellay, Henry VIII.
continues his Aggressions against the Romish Church —
Sentence given almost unanimously by the Consistory of
Cardinals in favour of the Validity of Catharine's Mar-
riage, and Bull of the Pope to the same Effect — The
answer to Du Bellay's Dispatch arrives two days after
the Sentence of the Consistory — But this Reply could
not be of Consequence — While the Cardinals are still
deliberating, the Anglican Church is being constituted —
Henry VIII.'s Condemnation had become Necessary —
Clement VII. had pushed his Temporisings, Concessions^
and Tenderness to the last Extremity.
CLEMENT VII. would have appeared to acquiesce in
the sentence of divorce pronounced in England, if
he had not protested at the Vatican by an authentic
222 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
deed emanating from his spiritual authority. He
was in some sort compelled to do this, not nearly so
much by the proceedings of what was called the
Spanish faction at Rome as by the actual right of
Queen Catharine, and the great interest attaching to
her cause taken in itself, independently of all human
support. A Papal bull was therefore published in
the month of July, annulling Cranmer's sentence,
and excommunicating Henry VHI. and Anne Boleyn,
unless they appeared before the pope during the
month of September, or separated before that time.
Henry fought for his position foot by foot, and
attacked this bull in a doctrinal tract, claiming to
discover several nullities in it.
On another side he had to conciliate France, even
for the purpose of his suit, and, what is very curious,
he had not lost all hopes of getting his marriage
with Anne Boleyn, and the divorce sentence of
Cranmer, approved at Rome by the pope.
As he was displeased at the treaty of Cambrai,
and required pecuniary compensations from Francis
I. that he could not or would not pay, it was pro-
posed to give him satisfaction of another sort. He
said he wished to have a secret conference with an
extraordinary ambassador of the King of France on
most important matters. For this mission was im-
mediately selected Guillaume du Bellay, better
known under the name of Langey, brother of the
bishop, Jean du Bellay, a general of distinction in
GUILLAUME DU BELL AY. 223
the army, and a more steady man of business than
his brother, the lively and rather worldly bishop,
whom we have already had occasion to know.
For this we can rely upon the memoirs of Martin
du Bellay, Langey's third brother, written from
fragments and notes of Langey's own.*
The ambassador had been desired to announce to
Henry VIII. the approaching marriage of the Duke
of Orleans with the Duchess of Urbino, niece of
Clement VII. Francis I. was to have an interview
with the Holy Father in Provence, and take his son
there, while Clement would bring his niece Catha-
rine, and there, " to give greater security to our said
Holy Father, and divert him completely from his de-
votion to the emperor, the marriage should be
brought to a conclusion."
When the King of England saw Langey he replied
by a no less interesting communication.
" The business that Henry VIII. desired to declare
to the King of France was that, after so many ad-
journments and ' dissimulations ' {sic) as the Bishop
of Rome " — as he called the pope — " had treated him
to in the divorce suit, he had obtained a declaration
* Montaigne says concerning this work : " C'est toujonrs plaisir
de voir choses escrites par ceux qui ont essaye comme il faut les
conduire." But he suspects Langey and Martin du Bellay of some
partiality, for he adds: "C'est icy plustost un plaidoyer pour le
roi Francois oontre Charles cinquieme qu'une histoire." See Me-
moires relatifs a I'Histoire de France, by Michaud and Poujoulat,
vol. V, p. 98, Paris, 1838.
224 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
grantiog it from the English Church, with the Pri-
mate of England as president, that his marriage had
been declared null, and the dispensation null, as
given in a case not capable of dispensation, and not
within the power of the pope or the church." *
The King of England also told Langey that he
had married " la Marquise de Boleyn " before three
or four witnesses only, that he should keep this
marriage secret for some time, hoping that Francis
I., during the interview proposed to be held in Pro-
vence, might induce Clement VII. to confirm the
sentence of divorce given by Cranmer, otherwise he
would publish his marriage, and proceed to free
himself entirely from the yoke and servitude to the
Church of Rome.
The emperor, according to Henry VIII., had made
a " very passionate " speech to the Bishop of Rome
concerning " the cruel war " that should be made
upon the King of England, if he did not take back
Catharine of Aragon for his wife, and restore her
honours and dignities. Charles V. must expect a
diversion in his favour to be made by the King of
Scotland, with whom he had made an offensive and
defensive league.
Guillaume de Langey seemed to enter into Henry's
ideas as to the bad behaviour of Charles V., but tried
to pacify him as regarded the pope, and made him
hope that Francis I., who was flattering the pride of
* Memoires relatifs k THistoire de France, p. 254.
THE pope's grievance. 225
the Medici by offering them au alliance with one of
the oldest dynasties of Europe, would get anything
he chose from the sovereign pontiff when the mar-
riage was being concluded ; only he added that suc-
cess would be much more probable if the King of
England himself were present at this interview.
Henry would not expose himself to be called upon
for explanations of his conduct which he would have
found very difficult, for he could not very well ex-
cuse his continued disobedience to the pope, after
his promise not to press matters any further, and
not only marrying Anne Boleyn, but even also mak-
ing her Queen of England, and giving her the hon-
ours of a solemn coronation.
That was the very point Clement VII. complained
of to the French ambassadors, especially Cardinals
de Tournon and De Grammont. " To have taken
cognisance of the divorce suit contrary to the formal
prohibition of the Holy See, reserving the judgment
to itself, was a matter of considerable encroachment
upon the privileges of the Holy See especially as
during the time he was prayed to suspend the pro-
cess, and make no innovation until the meeting, the
said king was always making innovations and going
further." *
Cardinal de Tournon, commissioned by Francis I.
to press the pope in favour of the King of England,
did his best, and thus relates the result of his attempt
* Memoires relatifs h I'Histoire de France, p. 255.
VOL. II. Q
226 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to his master : " The Holy Father replied that he was
much grieved to have been unable to satisfy your
majesty, but that the King of England had con-
strained him, and almost obliged him to do as he
had done,* especially since he had seen that the new
marriage had taken place contrary to his inhibition
and prohibition, and, further, had passed his laws of
supremacy and others to the grand detriment of the
Holy See and the Church, and again caused the
Archbishop of Canterbury to proceed to judgment,
who, in the same judgment, whereof we have seen
the duplicate in open consistory, styles himself legat
ne in England of the Apostolic See, and he has pro-
ceeded against and beyond the authority of the said
Holy See. Truly, sire, most of the cardinals would
have been disgusted with the pope if he had not
acted as he has. Certainly, sire, you would not do a
small thing for the King of England if you persuade
the Duke of Norfolk that this is the case. If the
King of England will make ever so small a semblance
of retiring from his attacks, and obeying the pope —
and His Holiness can find an honourable colour to
do anything for the King of England — I assure you,
sire, that, for love of you and him, he will do it as
willingly as he can .... I believe, sire, that you
have been informed that the king has recalled all his
ambassadors here away (at Rome), and has desired
* Memoires de Du Bellay, Authorities, the Abbe Lambert's
edition, vol. ii, p. 454.
EMBASSY TO FRANCE. 227
Doctor Benoit (Benett) to take leave of the pope and
come home."
This letter gives a clear account of the position of
Clement VII., and the judicious mind and great
practical sense of Cardinal de Tournon is evident
in it.
A very strong current in favour of the rights of
Queen Catharine had set in all over the Catholic
world, and at the Court of Rome. The pope could
not withhold his deference to it. Henry VIII. had
managed to create an opposing current in England
by his machinations, frauds, and abuse of power, and
would have found it diflScult, if he had wished it, to
stem its course and go back. And so, when he sent
an embassy to France composed of the Duke of Nor-
folk, Lord Rochford, Pawlet, Brown, and Bryant, the
ostensible object was to discuss Francis's offers of
mediation. But the secret instructions were to
•
counsel that king also to pass a law of supremacy
in spiritual matters, or, at least, to appoint a French
patriarch, who might free him from the necessity of
having recourse to the sovereign pontiff, either for
the institution of bishops, dispensations, or the disci-
pline of the clergy ; if the King of France would take
up this plan, and engage to forbid any dispatch of
money to the pope's treasury, Norfolk was desired
to offer a considerable subsidy to the King of France.
Francis endeavoured to persuade the duke that, with
concessions on both sides, an agreement might still
q2
228 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
be come to between Rome and England. But he
firmly refused the corrupting proposals made to
draw him into a revolt against the Holy See ; pro-
testing, nevertheless, that he should be able ta
defend the prerogatives of his crown, as his pre-
decessors had done, and would not permit any
encroachment on the part of the spiritual authority
over his temporal dominion.
Norfolk, having failed in his real mission, left
France on some excuse ; and his speedy departure
must have vexed Cardinal de Tournon considerably,
as he looked upon the duke's presence at the inter-
view at Marseilles as the last chance of success for
his attempts at concihation. Norfolk persuaded
Henry to send two other ambassadors, Bryant and
the Bishop of Winchester.
When Francis had met the sovereign pontiff at
Marseilles, he wished to proceed with the divorce
business before anything else, and invited the English
agents to a conference, and to discuss the clauses of
an agreement between Henry VHI. and the Holy
See. Their cold and disdainful attitude struck the
King of France. Bonner, lately come from England,
went with his two colleagues to inform the Holy
Father " of his master's appeal, and give him notice
of the council, a thing that put His Holiness, and not
without cause, into such a state of despite and de-
spair as cannot be told." At last Francis I., taking
FRANCIS' LAST ATTEMPT. 229
them apart, said to them, "I see plainly that the
king my brother, however much he presses me to
mediate in his affair with our Holy Father, does not
consider anything should be done." The ambassa-
dors began to smile,* and confessed that they had
no power from their master to negotiate or treat
this aSair.
However, as the King of France would still hope
and try a last effort, he endeavoured to persuade
dement VH. that all chance of reconciliation was
not lost ; and he took upon him to send to Henry,
Jean du Bellay, who had become Bishop of Paris,
and, on his appointment, ceased to be ambassador to
England. Indeed, the bishop himself solicited this
important mission ; he knew the ground perfectly,
possessed Henry's confidence, and asserted that he
should be successful in effecting a reconciliation, not
only between the two kings, but even between the
King of England and the Court of Rome.
We, however, should think that the sycophant of
Anne Boleyn and flatterer of Henry VHI. was less
desirably situated than anyone to exercise an influence
on that king.
The King of France had given detailed instruc-
tions to Jean du Bellay, entitled, "Minute of the
points that Monsieur du Bellay, Bishop of Paris, will
have to introduce to the King of England, to impute
* Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 580, 683.
230 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
to his ministers the rupture of the negotiations
undertaken by Francis I. with the pope in favour of
King Henry VIII."*
After some tolerably strong complaints as to the
conduct of the English ministers, in dexterous language
that threw all the responsibility upon them, as if
Francis had understood one of the fundamental points
of the British constitution, he concludes, '' that an
attempt must be made to connect and re-unite the
King of England and the Holy Apostolic See by the
means mentioned at Marseilles, and others considered
good and reasonable, So that on both sides the
injuries or attacks given and received might be
gently repaired, and the said Paris should do every-
thing he possibly could to the very end, not forget-
ting to offer him to make a good confederation and
defensive league among those three."
The Bishop of Paris was very well received by
Henry VHI., but he made bitter complaints of the
way the pope had behaved to him, as he said he
wished to compel him to leave his kingdom and ap-
pear at Rome in person, to personally uphold his right.
Nevertheless, after the sharp and strong remonstrance
made him by the Bishop of Paris, he was pleased to
promise that, if the Holy Father consented to arrest
judgment of the divorce until new commissioners had
been appointed to try the suit, he also would delay
the plan he had announced of withdrawing entirely
* Histoire du Divorce, Legrand, vol iii, pp. 571, 588.
DU BELLAY AT ROME. 231
from the authority of the Romish Church.* There-
upon the ofBcious prelate proposed to undertake to
go himself to Rome to argue in favour of the divorce,
and this oflfer was accepted. Jean du Bellay there-
fore went to Italy through all the inclemencies of
winter. He was to act in concert with the English
ambassadors in residence at the pope's Court. These
last had instructions that were called conciliatory.
They were commissioned to propose that the divorce
suit should be tried again in England, with an un-
derstanding that the judgment given should be
sanctioned by the pope, and to promise that on these
conditions the kingdom should remain in obedience
to the Apostolic Holy See.
In spite of the promises made to Du Bellay, as soon
as that ambassador had started for Italy, Henry did
not trouble himself in the least to suspend his atta cks
upon the Romish Church. On the contrary, while in
the instructions sent to his ambassadors he pretended
in some respects to make advances to the Holy Father,
and aflfected to be reconciled to him, he contioued to
separate from him further and further, by the direc-
tion given to his home government.
There is in existence a curious letter of the Duke
of Norfolk,! in which he thanks Francis I. for having
* Memoirs of Maxtin du Bellay, JVIichaud's Edition, vol. v, pp.
283, 284. This author's authority is especially good here, as he
must have known what Henry VIII. had told his brother.
t Of January 27th, 1534, J. Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 688, 595.
It has been stated that Francis I. had entered into negotiation
232 CATHARINE OF ARAGOX.
sent Monsieur de Paris to Rome in the interest of
Henry VIII., and allows himself to assert that, accord-
ing to the best doctors of England, the pope has no
more power beyond the diocese of Rome than any
other bishop has beyond his own diocese. He says that
"these doctors have, by their irrefragable reasons,
convinced me and other nobles and common people of
this kingdom of this truth, and confirm it from day
to day ; so that if the king his master gave them
permission to bring the matter forward, if he allowed
the present Parliament to discuss it, the pope him-
self and his successors would not only lose the obedi-
ence of the whole kingdom, but even everything
connected with him and his authority would always
be there detested and held abominable."
The Duke of Norfolk, under pretext of giving
semi-official advice and friendly information to
the ministers of Francis I., dares to use these ex-
pressions, saying that " since the interview at Mar-
seilles the king his master (Francis) is by no means
too much inclined to favour the pope to the detri-
ment of his own jurisdiction and royal power. For
his said master being the very powerful and most
with the German Lutherans for their support, and to engage to
■withdraw himself from obedience to the pope. This does not seem
to be proved historically. Only one contemporary's testimony
can be quoted, and that is very suspicious, being Christopher
Mount's, a German, and agent of King Henry VIII. with
Francis I. This Mount had tried to put Melancthon in communi-
catioa with the King of France, but, it seems, had not succeeded.
ATTEMPTS ON FRANCE. 233
Christian king, who recognises no superior, why
had he, as was reported, procured a bull from the
pope to do justice in his kingdom. As mucH as to
say that he had no such power before without the
pope's bull. Could not the pope, under colour of
this, usurp the royal power, and also bring up the
case to the detriment of all other kings and princes?"
Now what was all this about ? It relates to two
pontifical bulls ; one on the correction and punish-
ment of heretics in France, the other concerning the
condemnation of priests and clerks convicted of
heresy. In order to avoid any conflict with ec-
clesiastical authority, Francis I. asked and obtained
a formal authorisation from the pope to have crimes
against religion prosecuted before his secular judges,
and even to simplify the necessary forms for the
degradation of a priest accused of heresy, a degrada-
tion that could only be decreed by spiritual au-
thority.* This was on Francis's side in full accord-
ance with the Church, while in England the only aim
was war and separation.
Thus Henry VIII. was not contented with seeking
to draw England into schism, but also attempted to
propagate this policy of discord between State and
Church among the neighbouring powers; he en-
deavoured to encourage mistrust and hatred towards
the papacy.
* See the letter of the bull quoted in the authorities. Histoire
du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii, pp. 615, 616, 617.
234 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
We have just seen that one of his ministers had
the audacity to interfere in French policy, and cen-
sure it for over-complaisance towards the Court of
Rome. Such an impudent interference would have
deserved to be repulsed with the knightly scorn that
was part of Francis I.'s character, and was at times
80 well expressed by him.
It may be seen from Norfolk's letter that Henry
had managed to turn public opinion within his king-
dom in a direction most hostile to the papacy ; and
by that means he had prepared a favourable recep-
tion for the bills he laid before his parliament in the
beginning of 1534, which were destined to make the
breach between Rome and England yet wider and
wider.
Cromwell, who, as we have said, had been ap-
pointed chancellor of the exchequer, as a recompense
for his past services, was desired to support these
bills, with the assistance of Cranmer, the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
The submission in spiritual matters extracted the
year before from the convocation of the clergy, was
established by statute, and in the preamble was
intentionally placed * an article that seemed to limit
the duration of it to the reign of Henry VIH., but a
clause had been added to the eflfect *' that all such
canons and ordinances as had been already made,
and were not repugnant to the statutes and customs
* Lingard says, " artfully omitted," vol. iv, p. 204. (Ed.)
STATUTES ENACTED. 235
of the realm, or the prerogatives of the crown,
should be used and enforced till it should be other-
wise determined according to the tenor and effect of
the said act."
Therefore, in virtue of this statute the king might
have caused religious crimes and suits to be tried by
the civil tribunals ; but neither he nor his successors
made use of this power, because the spiritual courts
had lost their purely ecclesiastical character, and
the entire clergy, since the separation, had become
one of the divisions of the power wielded by the
state. The clauses of an earlier statute, forbidding
appeals to Rome in certain cases, were extended to
all cases whatsoever, and in the event of an appeal
from the archbishop's judgment, instead of the ponti-
fical court, it was to be carried before the king in
chancery, and he was to appoint commissioners,
whose judgment should be final in the cause. This
high court bore the name of the Court of Delegates.
" In addition to the statute by which the payment
of annates had been forbidden, and which had since
been ratified by the king^s letters patent, it was
enacted that bishops should no longer be presented
to the pope for confirmation, nor sue out bulls in his
Court ; but that, on the vacancy of any cathedral
church, the king should grant to the dean and
chapter, or to the prior and monks, permission to
elect the person whose name was mentioned in
his letters ; that they should proceed to the election
236 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
•within the course of twelve days, under the penalty
of forfeiting their right, which, in that instance,
should devolve to the crown ; that the prelate
named or elected should first swear fealty; after
which the king should signify the election to the
<irchbishop, or, if there be no archbishop, to four
bishops, requiring them to confirm the election, and
to invest and consecrate the bishop-elect, who might
then sue his temporalities out of the king's hands,
make corporal oath to the king's highness, and to no
other, and receive from the king's hands restitution
of all the possessions and profits, spiritual and
temporal, of his bishopric." *
Certainly this was breaking the last links that
bound the English episcopacy to the Roman Catholic
Church. This was destroying the natural lawf which
now had regulated the relations of kings and states
with Rome for several centuries all over Europe.
The spiritual power had no longer any share left in
the hierarchial government of England. The new
Act of Parliament placed this power entirely in the
English crown. In truth, certain nominal preroga-
tives were reserved to the Archbishop of Canterbury
in his character of primate. But it was decided that,
if any person found himself injuriously affected by a
* Lingard, vol. iv, p. 204. (Ed.)
t Le droit public. This law, or right, is of course assumed by
the writer, who cannot be expected to acknowledge that it was
the result of Roman usurpation. (Ed.)
THE SUCCESSION. 237
eentence of the archbishop, by presenting a petition
to Chancery he might compel the prelate to give the
reasons for his sentence, and the king would still
consider them, and give supreme judgment.
Parliament also settled the question of succession
to the throne. The marriage of Henry and Catha-
rine had been declared null at law, and that which
he had contracted with Anne Boleyn, having been
declared lawful and valid, the king's issue by the
first marriage was excluded irom the succession, and
that by the second alone was made inheritable of
the crown. Any attempt to slander this last mar-
riage, or seek to prejudice the rights of the heirs
that might issue from it, was declared to be high
treason. Any person knowing of writings, or hear-
ing words against this act of succession, might be
prosecuted, if he did not denounce them, as an ac-
complice of misprision of treason. Lastly, all the
king's subjects of full age were obliged to swear
obedience to this act, under the penalty incurred by
concealment.
Never were the rights of liberty of conscience
more outrageously violated than by such acts of
Parliament. This set of acts and laws just described
contained a whole ecclesiastical organization, inde-
pendent and even exclusive of the Romish Church.
Henry VHI. was building a kind of spiritual fortress^
and surrounding it with entrenchments, on pretence
of defending himself against attacks from without.
238 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
But when he had established his little church, he
8oon came to merciless proscription of any who still
desired to be in communion with the great church
he had himself belonged to. In his eyes it was an
immediate consequence of his separate establishment.
Anglicanism was already created, and the only work
left was to strengthen it and develop it to the
utmost.
Henry VIII. may be said to have already made
his breach with the Papacy irreparable. His mar-
riage to Anne Boleyn seemed to shut him out from
the possibility of retreat.
Du Bellay, not choosing to believe that this revo-
lution in religion had advanced so far, continued to
labour at the impossible reconciliation. As soon as
he arrived at Rome, he obtained an audience of the
consistory, and gave information to the cardinals of
his proceedings with the King of England, and asked
permission to send him the Holy Father's final pro-
posals before definite judgment was given in the
divorce case. This request seemed reasonable, and
was well received by the august assembly. Du
Bellay, therefore, immediately despatched a messen-
ger to King Henry VIII. himself, ordered to travel
with the utmost expedition, so as to get back by the
day appointed for the consistory. The day arrived
before the courier's return. Then the Bishop of
Paris prayed for a further delay of six days, pointing
out that the courier might have met with accidents
JUDGMENT OF THE CARDINALS. 239
on the road, that there had been storms at sea and
contrary winds ; lastly, that, as the King of England
had waited six years, the cardinals might well wait
six days for him.*
These last words, betraying an eager partisan of
Henry Vlll., were neither suitable, nor just, nor
true ; from these boasted six years of royal patience
must be deducted three years of intimacy with Anne
Boleyn, without reckoning the secret marriage with
her, or the sentence of divorce given by Cranmer. The
cardinals considered that the request was a little too
much for their forbearance.
They determined to proceed to judgment on the
day arranged, March 23rd, 1534. Twenty-two car-
dinals were present. With the exception of three,
who were for more delay, and absented themselves
when it was refused, they all gave sentence to the
effect that " the marriage of the King of England
and Catharine has been and is good and valid, and
the present or future offspring of it is and will be
legitimate." t
The pope immediately confirmed the cardinals'
sentence in a firm and dignified bull, given below. }
* Martin du Bellay, Histoire du Divorce, p. 234.
t Letter of J. du Bellay, Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol.
iii, p. 631.
X The Latin text of the bull :
" Clemens Papa VII.,
" Christi nomine invocato, in throno justitise pro tribunali sedentes,
et Bolmn Deum prse oculis habentes, per banc nostram definitivam
240 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
This was the triumph of justice so long expected.
Rome had at last spoken, and given the case against
a powerful king to the weak unjustly oppressed. As
the sovereign pontiff had been forced to give an
opinion, he could not decide against Queen Catharine
without dishonour to himself. He was obliged to
condemn Henry VHI., whatever might be the conse-
sententiam, quam Tenerabilimn fratrum nostronim, sanctse Romanas
Ecclesiae cardinalium consistorialiter coram nobis, congregatorum con-
cilii et assensu, ferimus in his scriptis, pronnntiamus, decernimus, et
declaramus : in causa et causis, ad nos et sedem apostolicam per ap-
pellationem, per carissimam in Christo filio, Catliarinam Angliae regi-
nam illustrem, a nostris et sedis apostolicae legatis, in regno Anglije
deputatis, interpositam legitime devolutis et advocatis, inter praedictam
Catharinam reginam et carissimum in Christo fihmn Henricum octa-
vnm Angliae regem illustrem super validitate matrimonii inter eosdem
reges contracti et consummati, rebusque aliis in actis causae et causa-
rum hujusmodi latins deductis. Et dilecto filio Paulo Capissucho,
causarum sacri Palatii tunc decano, et propter ipsius Pauli absentiam,
venerabili fratri nostro, Jacobo Simonetae, episcopi Pisauriensi, unius
ex dicti Palatii causarum auditoribus lociim tenenti, audiendis, instru-
endis, et in Consistorio nostro Secreto referendis commissis et per eos
nobis et eisdem Cardinalibus relatis et mature discussis coram nobis
pendentibus, matrimonium inter praedictos Catharinam et Henricum
Angliae reges contractum, et inde secuta quaecumque fuisse et esse
validum et canonicum ; et debere sortiri effectus, et prolem exinde
susceptam et suscipiendam, fore et fuisse legitimam. Et praefatum
Henricum Angliae regem teneri et obligatvmi fuisse et fore, ad cohabit-
andum ciun dicta Catharina, ejus legitima conjuge, illamque maritali
affectione et regie honore tractandam. Et eumdem Henricum Angliae
regem, ad praemissa omnia et singula cimi effectu adimplendum, con-
demnandum, omnibusque juris remediis cogendum et compellendum
fore prout condemnamus, cogimus et compellimus. Molestationesque
et denegationes, per eumdem Henricum regem eidem Catharinae, super
invaliditate ac foedere dicti matrimonii quomodolibet factas et praestitas,
fuisse et esse illicitas et injustas. Et eidem Henrico regi super iUis ac
invaliditate matrimonii hujusmodi, pei-petuum silentium imponendum
fore et imponimus . . . . "
COURIER FROM ENGLAND. 241
quences. Clement VII. had himself made public
recognition of this some time before his final
sentence.
The English and French ambassadors were as-
tounded; the same evening the Bishop of Paris
wrote to King Francis I., " It has not been your
fault, and the imperialists allow it, that, while hon-
ourably acting up to your friendship for the King of
England, you did not make it your duty to prevent,
both now and for the future, one of the greatest
troubles that has for a long time fallen upon the
Church, or, peradventure, the whole of Christendom.
At the present moment there are great crowds of the
imperialists in the streets, crying out, Impero e
Spagna, and they are firing great guns and small to
show ofi" their delight." *
Bishop du Bellay, writing in hearing of all these
rejoicings, shows clearly enough how much they vex
him. This seems to show that he really had a hope
that his negotiation would be successful even at the
last gasp.
Two days afterwards, on the 25th of March, came
the courier expected from England ; he brought, it
is said, satisfactory declarations from Henry VIII.
** This," according to Martin du Bellay, " marvel-
lously astonished those who had chosen to precipi-
tate matters. They met several times to try to
mend what they had spoiled, but they found no
♦ Histoire du Divorce, J. Legrand, vol. iii. Authorities, p. 634.
VOL. II. B
242 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
remedy. The King of England, seeing with what
indignity he had been treated, and the disrespect
shown to his majesty, being also treated no better
than the meanest in Christendom, separated both
himself and his kingdom from obedience to the
Romish Church ; making himself, next to God, head
of the English Church. This is the summary of
events." *
Such great events, whatever may be said, did not
hang on two days' delay of a public messenger.
Whatever was the nature of Henry VIII.'s des-
patches, he had not waited to know what effect they
might produce before having himself proclaimed head
of the English Church, and deriving most important
consequences from this spiritual supremacy. It is
clear that he would only have submitted to Rome,
if Rome had put him in the right.
Martin du Bellay, whose account we have given,
could not forget that his two brothers had pleaded
for the divorce, no doubt in the belief that they were
acting in the interest of France, and perhaps of the
Church. He naturally, therefore, endeavoured to
diminish the moral value of a decision that con-
demned the side they had taken, and entailed the
failure of all their diplomacy. Besides, to take a
comprehensive view of the situation, when the con-
sistory gave sentence, it was necessary to look at
England as well as Rome ; there can be no doubt
* M^moires, p. 284.
THE SEPARATION. 243
that one of those decisive steps that are irrevocable
had been just taken in that country in the direction
of separation and spiritual rebellion.
Therefore it cannot be supposed that the reply-
sent by the messenger to Rome was favourable ; for,
at the time when Henry VIII. gave his despatches
to this messenger, all his actions showed his invin-
cible determination to withdraw himself from the
authority of the Holy See and communion with the
pope.
As Lingard points out, " The judgment given by
Clement could not be the cause of that separation,
because the bill abolishing the power of the popes
within the realm was introduced into the Commons
in the beginning of March, was transmitted to the
Lords a week later, was passed by them five days
before the arrival of the courier (March 20), and re-
ceived royal assent five days after his arrival in
Rome (March 30)." See Laud's journals, pp. 75, 77,
82. " It was not possible that a transaction in Rome
on the 23rd could induce the king to give his assent
on the 30th." * Indeed there was no telegraph, nor
railway, nor steamboat, not even regular, well-served
posts, and a messenger who went from London to
Rome in eight days would have accomplished such a
prodigious feat as to be specially mentioned in
history.f
* Lingard. Note, vol. vi, p. 203.
t We find in a history of Hugh of Lyons, called La diplomatie fran-
B 2
244 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Therefore it was not because the Court of Rome
had precipitated matters, and had showed little re-
spect for the King of England, that the separation
was proclaimed in that kingdom ; the separation wa&
the result of the spiritual supremacy there arrogated
to himself by Henry VIII., as well as the suppression
of all appeal of English subjects to the Court of
Rome ; and the pope would have gained nothing by
extending his consideration to such a length. Is it
credible that he might have succeeded in re-establish-
ing his power over England, if he had delayed sen-
tence in the divorce suit for a few days ? Would the
Parliament and the king have repealed the bills they
had just passed and given assent to 1 Besides, Jean
du Bellay, who received Henry VIII.'s despatch, must
have known its contents ; if they embraced acceptable
proposals of agreement, why did not he make them
known ? Why did he neglect this means of defend-
ing the King of England, being such an ardent parti-
san. No doubt Henry VIII. required the pope to
pardon and authorise the deed that was done ; but
the sovereign pontiff, who had at three different
times sent prohibitions and inhibitions to the King of
9ai8e, au xvii sifecle by Valfrey, vol. i, introduction, p. xciv, Paris, Didier,
1877 : " In the seventeenth century an ambassador often had to bear
great responsibiUties, because the urgency of business rendered it im-
possible to ask for and await special instructions, an operation that re-
quired, between Paris and Rome, for instance, thirty days." This
proves the case.
FINAL DECISION. 245
England * against proceeding to a second marriage
before the first was annulled, and had menaced him
with his anathemas, in case of violation of these
inhibitions, could not discredit his own judgment,
and give a premium to the rebellion because it had
been perpetrated. It would have been a moral abdi-
cation, a kind of suicide of the papacy such as could
not be dreamt of, and Providence could not permit.
This created a double weight of circumstances, and
any wish to contend with them was senseless. It is
impossible to understand how, on the eve of March
23rd, Jean du Bellay could still dream of reconcilia-
tion. Still less can it be understood how some
modern historians could venture to accuse Clement
VII. of having driven England into separation by
excessive obstinacy and precipitancy.
On the contrary, a careful study of facts will pro-
duce a conviction that the pontiff carried the system
of temporisation, concession, and political circum-
spection to the utmost verge.f The gate of repent-
ance long stood open for Henry VIII., but his in-
curable obstinacy prevented his taking advantage
of it.
At last the gate was shut, and shut so that it
* The first brief fulminated on this matter by Clement VII. is
dated March 7th, 1530, the second on January 10th, 1531, the
third December 23rd, 1532.
t Histoire d'Angleterre, by M. de Larrey, p. 273.
246 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
could not be opened. It was time the suit was ended,
perhaps the most famous that ever took place in the
world. The King and Queen of England appeared
as principals ; the emperor and the King of France
joined in as counsel. All Europe was the attentive
and silent audience. After very sharp and sometimes
passionate debates, and a grave and profound inquiry,
the church spoke its final judgment.
A Protestant writer has said that the prejudices of
Europe were in favour of Rome ; the event turned
out in England's favour. This prejudice of Europe,
that is to say the whole civilized world of the time,
was only a remarkable testimony paid to justice and
truth ; the event that took place in England was a
local victory won over innocence and virtue by fraud
and force.*
* I have ineffectually examined tlie French archives and libraries at
Paris in search of the despatch of Henry VIII. to Du BeUay, that he
says would have prevented the decision of the consistory, and conse-
quently the Enghsh separation. I afterwards applied to Professor
Brewer, and he made a similar search in the Record Office and London
collection of papers, and this is the reply he was kind enough to send
me : —
"Jane 26th, 187&
" Deab Sm,
" I have made careful search among the papers preserved at
this office, but I can find none like that mentioned in your letter.
Notwithstanding the statement of Du Bellay, I should much doubt
whether any such proposal was made by Heniy, still less in the definite
terms stated by that historian. It would be entirely at variance with
the rest of the king's correspondence. I am sorry I have not been able
to answer your letter before.
" Yours very truly,
" J, L. Brewer."
247
CHAPTER XXIII.
I. Henry VllX. gradually becomes a Persecutor — A vehe-
ment Sermon of a Franciscan Friar of the Observance,
before the King, comparing him to Ahab — Next day
Henry sends his Chaplain to the Monastery of the Ob-
servants — The Chaplain having been badly received, the
Privy Council summon the Prior before them, and con-
demn him and the Preacher to banishment — All the
Monks of the Monastery are soon afterwards condemned
to the same Punishment — Singular Fulfilment, at least to
a certain amount, of the Prophecy made to the modern
Ahab.
n. Father Forest and his Correspondence with Catharine
— ^The Predictions of the ecstatic Elizabeth Barton —
Fisher's and More's Communications with her are politi-
cally Incriminated — Fisher prosecuted and made to
apologise — More guiltless on this Occasion — Interroga-
tory and Answers of Sir Thomas More — Fisher and More
committed to the Tower for not taking the Oath of Suc-
cession — Their property is Confiscated, and they are kept
in Prison — Spiritual Supremacy of the King proclaimed
all over England— Fisher and More refuse to swear to
to this act of Supremacy — Condemnation, Execution, and
heroic Behaviour of Fisher — Trial, Defence, and Condem-
nation of More — His Firmness and Death — Indignation
in the Political and Learned World of Europe — Execution
of several Clergymen.
A
I.
N English political historian has called Henry
VIII. " by nature the most uncontrollable of
248 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
mankind." * Indeed there are but few sovereigns of
modern times who have had a greater determination
not to accept a check or any sort of disapproval of
their government, their views, and personal opinions.
Nevertheless, while Wolsey and Campeggio were
holding their last sittings at Blackfriars, even after
the evocation of the suit to Rome, while priests or
divines were remonstrating with Henry VIII. about
the divorce, and even attacking him yiolently, he
had no notion of the infliction of corporal punish-
ment upon them. He still entertained some kind of
respect for the freedom of the church, and especially
for the freedom of the pulpit. He was not in the
least desirous of driving away indiscreet censors,
or of stifling their words like a troublesome or in-
convenient outcry. But here is an instance when
his royal patience seems to have been driven to
extremity by the audacity of a Franciscan monk
called Peto, a member of the Convent of the
Observants; "which Peto, having more regard to
the (health of the) king's soul and the public wealth
of the realm than to the safeguard of his own body,
and having occasion in a sermon he made to entreat
of King Achab, said, ' This King Achab would needs
give ear to the false prophets which did circumvent
and deceive him, and would not hearken to God's
own prophet, Mycheas, whom he pained and pinched
with hard diet and straight imprisonment,' which
* Hallam.
PETO'S SERMON. 249
story he, accommodatiog to his purpose, did tell the
king to his face : ' Sir, I am the Mycheas that you
deadly hate, for prophesying and telling you the
truth ; and albeit I know that I shall be fed with
the bread of tribulation, yet that which God putteth
in my heart I will frankly speak.' " Whereupon, with
many persuasions, he dehorted the king from the
divorce. Among other things, " Your preachers,"
(quoth he), " resemble the four hundred preachers ot
Achab, in whose mouths God had put a lying spirit.
But I beseech your grace to take good heed at least ;
if you will needs follow Achab in his doings, you
will incur his unhappy end also, and that the dogs
lick your blood as they did his, which thing God
forbid."
When the bold preacher used this strong language
the king was apparently amazed at it, and almost
stupefied ; and let him go without a thought ot
arrest or rebuke. But, after a time for reflection,
the feeling of insult overcame him, and he was
greatly exasperated. " The next Sunday, which
was Palm Sunday, (he provided) that one of his
chaplains, called Courrant, should prettily play home
the said Friar Peto, who was in the mean season
gone to a provincial chapter of the said Observants,
then kept at Canterbury. But, lord, what a stir that
Courrant made against that poor friar, being absent,
and what nicknames he gave him I At length, as
though he had now full conquered him, he began to
250 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
triumph and insult upon him, crying out, ' Where ia
Miser and Micher Micheas? Where doth he now,
Micher ? He is run away, for that he would not
hear what should be said unto him. Belike he is
somewhere lurking, and musing with himself by
what means he may honestly recant.'
" There was at this time among others in the
rood-loft, adjoining to the pulpit, a reverend, grave,
and virtuous friar and father, called Elstowe, who
being much offended with this great Golias bragge
answered out of this said rood-loft, ' Forsooth,*
(quoth he), 'Micheas is gone abroad, not for any
fear of you, but for the affairs of our house, and
to-morrow will he return. In the mean season, lo
I will be another Micheas, and do offer myself, upon
the loss and peril of my life, to avouch and prove
by the Holy Scripture all that he hath said, and do
offer myself to stand against you (being one of the
four hundred false prophets) before any indifferent
judge.' Many other things he would have then
spoken, and much ado there was to stay him. At
the hearing of this the king was cast into a great
choler ; and in a great heat commanded that these
friars should be conveyed thither where he should
never hear more of them. After a day or two they
were called before the counsell, and, after many
rebukes and threats, a nobleman told them that they
deserved to be thrust into a sack, and to be thrown
and drowned in the Thames. Whereat, Friar Els-
THE friars' banishment. 251
towe, smiling : * Make these threats,' (saith he), ' to
the courtiers, for as for us we make little accompt,
knowing right well that the way lieth as open to
heaven by water as by land.' " *
Elstowe and Peto were banished the kingdom,
and the other monks of the convent, having taken
their part, were served the same. Twenty-four
years afterwards, being almost all alive, they were
restored to their convent by Queen Mary.f
* Pretended Divorce, Harpsfield, pp. 202, 203. [Gairdner, Calendar,
vol. V, p. 441. Chapuys to Charles V. " On Easter Day the provincial
of the Friars Minors preached at their convent at Greenwich before the
king, who was not pleased with the sermon ; for the preacher said that
the unbounded affection of princes and their false counsellors deprived
them of the knowledge of the truth. The king spoke to the provincial
afterwards, and heard words which did not please him ; for the pro-
vincial told him clearly that he was endangering his crown, for both
great and little were murmuring at this marriage. The king dis-
sembled his ill-will, and, not being able to alter the provincial's opinion,
gave him leave to go to Tholouse. When he heard of his departure he
caused one of his chaplains (Doctor Richard Coren, or Curwen) to
preach there in his presence, contrary to the custom of the convent,
and the wish of the warden. The chaplain began to contradict what
the provincial had preached, saying that he wished he were present to
answer him. On this the warden rose and said that he would answer
for his minister in his absence. At the close of his sermon the chap-
lain dared to say that all the universities and doctors were in favour of
the divorce. The warden could not stand this lie, and said, in pre-
sence of the king, that it was not so. The king was very angry, and
has caused all the bishops to tell the provincial, who has returned,
that he ought to deprive the warden, and make him amend his error.
This he will not do, and yesterday the king had them both arrested.
They have promised Chapuys they wiU rather die than change their
opinion. The provincial went abroad more to have a book in the
queen's favour printed than for the chapter." Given to show Harps-
field's general accuracy in the matter.] (Ed.)
t Harpsfield, p. 205.
252 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Here the learned doctor who tells this story also
mentions a remarkable incident that happened imme-
diately after Henry VHI.'s death, on the faith of
most honourable testimony.
When the king's body was being taken from Lon-
don to Windsor where he was to be buried, it lay
the night at the convent of Sion, one of those or-
dered by the government to be suppressed. In the
night, whilst lying in the deserted church of the
convent, from the shaking of the oar or some reason,
the lead coffin containing the king's body burst, and
blood fell on the floor of the church. Next day,
when the plumbers came to solder up the coffin, they
found a dog licking up Henry VHI.'s blood, like the
dogs in Scripture licking Jezebel's blood.* So Father
Peto's prophecy seemed fulfilled.
If there had been any monks left in the convent
at Sion, they would have been praying around the
king's coffin, and the pavement of the sanctuary
defended from pollution. No Catholic, even the
meanest and poorest, would leave the corpse of a
member of his family alone the night before burial.
And the powerful king, who had made all around
him tremble, who found nothing to resist his will,
a few hours after his death had not a faithful servant
to protect his remains.f
* Harpsfield, p. 203.
t The account does not appear to imply that the corpse was left
alone. On the contrary, the previous mention of " A continual watch
was made by the chaplains and gentlemen of the Privy Chamber in
THE NUN OF KENT. 253^
Harpsfield, the Archdeacon of Canterbuiy, who
gives this strange story, is anxious to relieve a large
number of the English clergy from the reproach of
servility at this time. Having displayed the noble
conduct of the friars observants, he mentions the
names of several doctors who dared to write against
the divorce, and take the pope's side in this great
theological dispute, " as Doctor Kirkham, Doctor
Roper, Doctor Holyman, Master Moremon, Master
Bayner, and many others ;" and then he goes on :
" But the chief and most notable captains were the
Bishop of Rochester, Sir Thomas More, and the Lord
Cardinal Pole."*
We must dwell a short time on the two former of
these illustrious men, as their noble death must not
be passed over in silence.
II.
About the beginning of the year 1534, religious
tyranny extended over the kingdom. A poor vision-
ary, Elizabeth Barton, better known under the name
of the Nun of Kent, pretended to have visions. It
was said she had prophesied the king's death within
six months if he should divorce Catharine. Fisher
and More had seen the visionary, and had heard her
their coarse and order night and day for fire days, till the chapel was
ready " — Burke's Historical Portraits, vol. ii, p. 253 — and other men-
tions of ceremonial observed, would show that there . was no want of
attention. Moreover, Harpsfield says the dog was creeping under the
plumbers' feet. (Ed.)
* Harpsfield, p. 205.
254 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
menacing prediction. They had not sent informa-
tion to Henry VIII. The nun was hung, after mak-
ing confession of trickery and deceit. Some monks
were also executed who had encouraged her in her
imposture ; also, the illustrious ex-chancellor and
saintly Bishop of Rochester were prosecuted for not
revealing it (misprision of treason).*
These two men were very simple in their lives,
equally averse to luxury and careless of riches.
Their independent characters stood out in bold relief
from the general corruption.
Fisher was but a young churchman when the
Duchess of Richmond, grandmother of Henry VIIL,
before her death begged him to watch over her
grandson, and give him good advice. When the
bishop grew old, he did not forget the trust placed
in him, and it was the easier, for, when Henry VIII.
became king, for eighteen years of his reign he al-
ways showed great respect for the bishop, and sanc-
tioned the apostolic freedom of his language.
But all this was changed when the suit was
brought against the queen. We have seen how
Fisher's noble protest in Catharine's favour was fol-
lowed by Henry VIII.'s minute full of excessive
polemical anger against his old adviser.
When the nun of Kent was prosecuted, the Bishop
of Rochester was questioned as to his communica-
* See the end of chap, xviii.
FISHER FINED. 255
tions with her; he refused to answer. A bill of
attainder was launched against hira. Cromwell
caused a suggestion to be made that, if he would
plead guilty and throw himself on the king's mercy,
he might be pardoned. Fisher refused the dishon-
ourable bargain ; he wrote a very firm letter to the
Lords, saying that he had not informed his sovereign
of the visionary's language ; first, " She spoke not
of any violence to be ofiered to Henry, but of the
ordinary visitations of Providence ; secondly, because
she assured him that she had already apprised the
king of the revelation made to her." However, the
bill was read a second and a third time in the House
of Lords by a large majority, and Fisher was obliged
to compound for a fine of three hundred pounds to
the crown. When it was paid, he was set at liberty.
As to Sir Thomas More, perhaps he had done
wrong in accepting the office of chancellor, which he
had held for nearly two years ; and we have seen
that he resigned because he feared he might find
himself committed to a religious policy irreconcilable
with his conscience. He had retired to his country
house at Chelsea, where he spent his life in his
domestic cares, study, and prayer. He had distrust-
ed the ecstatic Elizabeth Barton. He thought she
was a pious woman, but ill and a prey to hallucina-
tions.* He wrote several times about it to the king
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 212.
256 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
and Cromwell. The Duke of Norfolk also warmly
took the ex-chancellor's part, and he escaped criminal
prosecution.
But a fortnight after the condemnation of Eliza-
beth Barton and her accomplices, April 13th-, 1534,*
Sir Thomas More and Fisher were called before the
council at Lambeth, and asked whether they would
take the new oath of succession. But the act con-
tained a great deal more than appeared in its title.
It declai'ed that no power on earth could dispense
with the prohibitions of the divine law, and that the
marriage of Henry and Catharine had been from the
beginning null and void.
More was introduced first, and offered to take the
oath as concerning the succession alone, and except-
ing the other clauses contained in the act, for mo-
tives that prudence compelled him to suppress.
" It was intimated to him that, unless he gave the
reasons for his refusal, that refusal would be at-
tributed to obstinacy. MoRE: It is not obstinacy,
but the fear of giving offence. Let me have suf-
ficient warrant from the king that he will not be
offended, and I will explain my reasons. Crojiwell :
The king's warrant would not save you from the
penalties enacted by the statute. MoRE: In that
case I will trust to his majesty's honour. But yet it
thinketh me that, if I cannot declare the causes
* This was also nineteen days after the sentence given against the
divorce at Rome.
MORE'S EXAanNATICN. 257
without peril, then to leave them undeclared is no
obstinacy. Cranmer : You say that you do not
blame any man for taking the oath. It is then
evident that you are not convinced that it is blam-
able to take it ; but you must be convinced that it is
your duty to obey the king. In refusing, therefore,
to take it, you prefer that which is uncertain to that
■which is certain. More : I do not blame men for
taking the oath, because I know not their reasons
and motives; but I should blame myself, because I
know that I should act against my conscience. And
truly, such reasoning would ease us of all perplexity.
Whenever doctors disagree we have only to obtain
the king's commandment for either side of the ques-
tion, and we must be right. Abbot OF WESTMINSTER :
But you ought to think your conscience erroneous
when you have against you the whole council of the
nation. More : I should, if I had not for me a still
greater council, the whole council of Christendom."*
After this examination, at which More never ceased
to show his ability and nobleness of mind, Fisher was
called in, and he took up a similar position. He
made no objection to the oath required of him as to
the succession to the throne, since the right might be
settled by the civil power ; but, as to the doctrinal
point, he asserted that the church alone was com-
petent. He and More were both sent to the Tower.
A council was summoned to consider their fate.
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 213. Note from More's works, pp. 1429, 1447.
VOL. II. S
258 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
There were two opinions as to it. Cranmer proposed
that their oaths should be taken with the restrictions
attached to it. In reality the concession they made,
imperfect as it was, might have great advantages.
Catharine at home and the emperor, abroad would
not be able to claim two high authorities against the
.rights of the new queen's children to the crown.
Refusal of this partial submission to the bill by the
Bishop of Rochester and the ex-chancellor was to
make them reject it altogether. This opinion of
Cranmer^s was opposed by Cromwell, who, perhaps
less politic, and certainly less merciful, desired to ex-
tract an unconditional submission, or to terrify their
friends by punishing them with the utmost severity.
Henry VIII. adopted this view.
The two distinguished prisoners were attainted,
and lost all their titles and dignities, and were
sentenced to confiscation of their property and
imprisonment for life.
Sir Thomas More, thanks to the care of his daugh-
ter, Margaret Roper, was not left in want of the
necessaries of life. Fisher, forbidden all communica-
tion from without and thrown into a damp dungeon,
was obliged to ask Henry VIII. himself for some
clothing, as his own had fallen to rags, and left him
half naked in the cold and frost.
In the month of November following, the king's
spiritual supremacy was proclaimed by act of parlia-
ment all over the kingdom of England. This new
fisher's CONDEMNATION. 259
legislation furnished the means of resuming, by im-
plication, the criminal prosecution against the ex-
chancellor and Fisher.
Magistrates and dignitaries of the church went
down into the dungeon where the Bishop of Roches-
ter lay. They promised him freedom and restoration
to all his honours, if he would consent to take the
oath of supremacy. Here there was no distinction
to draw. Fisher repelled the tempters. He plainly
answered them that the king could not be the head,
of God's Church.
On the 7th of May, 1535, Fisher was convicted of
having said " maliciously and traitorously, the kyng,
our sovereign lord, is not supreme hedd yn erthe of
the Churche of Englande." He was found guilty on
the evidence of persons sent by the council to discuss
the question of supremacy with him. Paul III.,
successor to Clement VH., had named Fisher in a
general promotion of cardinals before the report of
his condemnation reached Rome. When Henry VHI.
heard this, he let drop these words that cannot be
read without shuddering, " Paul may send him a hat,
but I will take care he have never a head to wear it
on."
Fisher was condemned on June 17th, 1535, to the
punishment of traitors, but this was not carried out
to its full extent. The 22nd of the same month, the
day he was to die, he took care to be dressed more
carefully than usual, and, when asked why, he said
S2
260 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
he hoped it was the day of his eternal bridal. As he
was on his way to execution, the crowd of people
delayed his progress for some time. He made use
of this opportunity to consult the Bible, opening it
by chance, and praying to God to let him find in
Holy Scripture, at the moment of his death, the con-
solation he had always drawn from it all the days of
his life. He fell on the following passage, " This i»
eternal life that they might know Thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." — St.
John, xvii, 3.
He expressed great satisfaction at having met with
a text that seemed to justify him for having preferred,
before his king on earth, his king in heaven, — the
real king of eternity. So he went on repeating and
meditating on these beautiful words. On the scaffold
he chanted the Te Deum, and when he had done his
head was cut off.*
All Henry VIH.'s old affection for the Bishop of
Rochester had turned into deep^ implacable hatred.
He was not content with the execution, but pursued
his vengeance beyond death, giving orders that the
body should be exposed naked all the rest of the day
to the insults of the people.f Thus did he wash
away his old respect for this saintly bishop.
Sir Thomas More had avoided committing himself
* See Histoire d'Angloterre, by the Protestant refugee, M. de Larrey,
ToL i, p. 309. Rotterdam, R. Lcert, 1697, dedicated to William m.
t Mortui corpus nudum prorsus in loco supplicii ad spectaculum
populo relinqui mandaverat. Polus, Apolog. ad Car., p. 96.
more's condemnation. 261
on the burning question of Henry VIII.'s supremacy.
In a long indictment he was accused, among other
charges, of having encouraged Fisher in his resist-
ance. He clearly proved in his defence that he had
neither written to him nor sent him any message on
this matter. Thinking the case desperate, the
fiolicitor-general, Rich, requested to be heard as a
witness. He declared that More had told him " the
Parliament cannot make the king head of the Church,
because it is a civil tribunal, without any spiritual
authority." * More denied saying this, because he did
not trust Rich, and had only answered him by silence.
But even this silence seemed to be a mark of high
treason. After a short deliberation the ex-chancellor
was found guilty.
More requested to speak, and, after some objection,
was allowed. He said that he had not before ex-
pressed his opinion, " lest he might appear to be
wantonly courting his doom ; but he now said he
never could find that a layman could be head of the
Church.
" This further only have I to say, my lords, that
like as the blessed Apostle, St. Paul, was present and
consenting to the death of the proto-martyr, St.
Stephen — and yet they be now twain holy saints in
heaven — so I verily trust that we may hereafter meet
in heaven." t
* Lingard, vol. vi, p. 223.
t Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, voL i, p. 584.
262 CATHABINE OP ARAGOX.
As he left the bar to return to the Tower, his bod
kneeled to ask his blessing. His daughter followed
the guard, and twice made her way through them
to kiss him and weep. The people were much dis-
tressed when they saw this venerable old man, witik
white hair, leaning on his sta£^ walking with difficulty
through the most crowded streets of the City. Preju-
dice was silenced by mercy, and sympathy supplanted
hatred.
When he reached the Tower he was informed that
Henry VIU., as a special favour, had commuted the
punishment of traitors into decapitation, when he
expressed a hope that none of his friends might ex-
perience a like mercy from the king.
He mounted the scaffold with the same serenity
and lengnation. Being allowed to address the
people, he only said he died faithful to God and the
Oiurch.*
Certainly More and Fisher are two noble charac-
ters, but there are differences between them..
When prosecuted for treason, the Bishop of Roches-
ter considered that any defence would be useless and
undignified. He would not plead for his life with
judges whose votes were already sold to tyranny.
He was a saint who calmly went to meet martyrdom.
The attitude of Sir Thomas More was not the
* Tlin -mi not all tiie blood abed at tius time for the same cause.
The priots of flie thiee dtMitBr-haaaea of Ltmdoa, AxOiolm, and Belle-
▼al voe ezeentod, Reyaidda, a monk of Sioii, and a secular deigyman,,
also time modka «£ Sua. JJbagu^ ^oL vi, p. S18.
more's conscientiousness. 263
same ; less heroic, no doubt, especially at the begin-
ning, it was that of a conscientious but clever law-
yer, defending himself foot by foot against treacher-
ous accusations and infernal plots. The mission he
had to fulfil was to illustrate in his person the
violence of his country's laws, and the scorn of
fundamental principles, considered by the English
to be the most sacred of their constitution.*
With them the home, the hearth of the head of
the family was guarded by special rights. The
threshold of a free man could not be crossed without
his leave ; the Englishman's house was a castle, and
social justice itself paused before this fortress, and
had no right of entry.
Well, there is an asylum still more inviolable than
a man's house, there is a sanctuary so impenetrable
that even the power of the Caesars must respect it ;
this asylum, this sanctuary, is conscience.
Sir Thomas More believed that his thoughts were
out of reach of attack if they remained confined to his
own home. In this wide and high meaning did he
understand domestic right. With all the resources
of a lawyer, he had kept himself within the bounds
of strict legality. But there is a kind of government
under which silence becomes a crime, and it is rebel-
lion to hold the independence of belief even in secret.
• See voL i. of an Histoire du droit criminel des peaples modemes,
pp. 94, 95, et seq. The violation of certain rights was punished by the
outlawry of the guilty.
264 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
This independence seems to be a tacit protest ; and
apostacy in power, having the control of force and
authority, cannot forgive it ; especially imperious,
and implacable in its proselytising, it will never ad-
mit innocence but in accomplices.
When More and Fisher perished on the scaffold,
there was a sort of amazement in England ; but com-
plaints were only under the breath. On the Conti-
nent there was a noisy and unanimous explosion of
public indignation. It found vent not only among
the learned Catholics, but among the educated of
all shades of opinion, and echoed throughout
Christendom.
265
CHAPTER XXIV.
Pretended Conspiracy of Catharine — Visit of two Bishops
or Commissioners of Henry to Bugden — Eequirement of
the Oath — Resistance of Catharine and her Servants —
Arrest of her two Chaplains — Touching Letter to the
King — She only obtains a Portion of her Request — She
objects to residing at Fotheringay, and prefers Kimbol-
ton — Her Distress and Tears — A Labourer's Generosity
— Catharine's Letter to Father Forrest — His Answer —
Henry VHI.'s Commissioners.
A MODERN historian, who is regarded as a highly
graphic writer, but who is partial and impas-
sioned, Froude, ventures to accuse Catharine of
having, together with certain monks, originated a
dangerous conspiracy against Henry VIII. " The
innocent saint at Bugden was the forerunner of the
prisoner at Fotheringay." *
The memory of the illustrious prisoner, Mary
Stuart, has been vindicated by Wiesener, De Chan-
telauze, Gautier, &c. It would be easierf still to
justify Catharine, if need were. Froude is conde-
ecending enough to excuse the supposed plots of
♦ Froude, vol. ii, p. 173. t Far easier. (Ed.)
266 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
Catharine and her daughter Mary ; he says, " Most
naturally blending their private quarrel with the
cause of the Church." *
Catharine requires no such excuses. It is plain
that Henry VIII.'s counsellors tried to impute an air
of conspiracy to the noble resistance of the queen
and her household.
During the course of the summer, the queen's resi-
dence had been transferred to Bngden, a country
house belonging to the Bishop of Lincoln. It was
there that, " when one of her gentlewomen began to
curse the Lady Anne Boleyn, she answered, ' Hold
your peace. Curse her not, but pray for her ; for the
time will come shortly when you shall have much
need to pity and lament her case.' "
At Bugden the queen seemed gradually to recover
her usual cheerfulness and peace of mind, but the
tranquillity of her retreat was disturbed by the visit
of Archbishop Lee and Bishop Tunstall. The two
prelates began by reading her the articles whereby
she was enjoined not to consider herself anything
but Prince Arthur's widow, and no longer to bear
the title of queen, and, as they report to Henry,
" for that your highness was discharged of that mar-
riage made with her, and had contracted new mar-
* Page 172. But he allows a little further on, " The scheme, in the
form it had so far assumed, was rather an appeal to fanaticism than a
plot which could have laid hold of the deeper mind of the country.
EXACTION OP OATH. 267
riage with your dearest wief^ Queen Anne — and fair
issue has already sprung of this marriage." Catha-
rine's patience at last gave way ; she replied, with
evident anger, " she would never quit the title of
queen, which she would persist to retain till death,
concluding with the declaration that she was the
king's wife, and not his subject, and therefore not
liable to his acts of parliament." Thus in this king-
dom, where everything bowed beneath the tyranny
of Henry VIII., his wife continued almost singly to
resist his will, depending on her rights as wife and
queen.
The commissioners ordered that the members of
the household should take the oath not only to
Henry VIII. but to the new queen, Anne Boleyn,
as ordered in the new act, known as the bill of the
six articles. The queen rose from the couch she was
resting on, and dragged herself to the hall where all
the persons in her service were assembled, and, with
regal dignity, she forbade them to take the oath to
any but the king and herself. Then the commis-
sioners inquired whether Catharine's spiritual ad-
visers had fomented this spirit of rebellion and
sedition in her. Her two chaplains, Abel and Parker,
were pointed out to them, and were called before the
commissioners to be questioned ; these worthy priests
declared that, in their eyes, this pretended rebellion
was only legitimate resistance, and that they had
not and would not be able to discountenance it, for
268 CATHARINE OF ARAGOX.
they considered Catharine of Aragon to be the only
real and true Queen of England.
This was a bold reply, and they were both arrested,
but Parker was presently released, and resumed his
duties as almoner to Catharine. Abel was thrown
into prison, and reserved, like Father Forrest, for the
death of a traitor.
Sir Edmund Bedingfield was appointed governor
of Catharine's household. A guardian or gaoler,
under another name.
Henry VIII. was enraged at Catharine's obstinate
resistance, and chose to punish her through her
daughter ; so he did not allow the Princess Mary to
visit her mother, and declared her incapable of suc-
ceeding to the throne of England, as not born of a
lawful marriage.
The unhappy queen at the same time saw that any
mark of interest shown towards herself or her cause
would be severely punished. It was for making use
of expressions of that kind that ladies of the highest
rank, such as the Duchess of Norfolk and the Coun-
tess of Rochford, were arrested and sent to the
Tower, when Henry VIII. said that he would leave
them time enough to reflect upon the rashness of
their speeches. A more serious matter was the
prosecution of More and Fisher, and their conviction
and execution. Nothing conld have wounded Catha-
rine more than the death of the Bishop of Rochester,
formerly her spiritual director, whom she loved as a
CATHARINE AT BUGDEN. 269
friend and worshipped as a saint. No wonder, then,
that sore grief vexed Catharine's heart at Bugden,
and that traces long remained in this residence where
she suffered so much, but was not to die. A con-
temporary says :
" There was in the said house of Bugden a cham-
ber with a window that had a prospect into the
chapel, out of the which she might hear divine
service. In this chamber she enclosed herself, se-
questered from all other company, a great part of
the day and night, and upon her knees used to pray
at the same window, leaning upon the stones of the
same. There were some of her gentlewomen which
curiously marked all her doings, who reported that
oftentimes they found the said stones where her head
had reclined wet, as though a shower had rained
upon them. It was credibly thought that, in the
time of her prayer, she removed the cushions that
ordinarily lay in the same window, and that the said
stones were imbrued with the tears of her devout
eyes, when she prayed for strength to subdue the
agonies of wronged affections."*
And yet she wished to live for her daughter's sake.
In a private communication to the king she begged
him to leave with her not only her confessor, but also
her physician and potecary, two men-servants, and as
many women as it should please the king's grace to
appoint ; but at the same time she declared that she
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 141, from Harpsfield, p. 200.
270 CATHARINE OF ARAQON.
Avould only keep those persons near her who had
taken oath only to the king and herself, and to
" none other woman." This reservation was caused
by the form of oath required of the servants. " Ye
«hall swear to bear faith, troth, and obedience only
to the king's grace, and to the heirs of his body, by
his most dear and entirely beloved lawful wife. Queen
Anne."
" As to my physician and potecary," continues
Queen Catherine, " they be my countrymen ; the king
knoweth them as well as T do. They have continued
many years with me, and have (I thank them) taken
great pains with me ; for I am oft times sickly, as
the king's grace doth know right well. And I re-
quire their attendance for the preservation of my
poor bodie, that I may live as long as it pleaseth
God. They are faithful and diligent in my service,
and also daily do they pray that the king's royal
estate long may endure. But, if they take any other
oath than they have taken to the king and me (to
serve me), I shall never trust them again, for in so
doing I should live continually in fear of my life with
them. Whereupon I trust the king, of his high
honour and goodness, and for the great love that
hath been betwixt him and me (which love in me
now is as faithful to him as ever it was, so take I
Ood to record I), will not use extremity with me, my
request being so reasonable." *
* Miss Stricldand, vol. iv, p. 146. The papers are damaged by fire.
PROPOSAL OF FOTHERINGAY. 271
Only a portion of Catharine's reasonable and natu-
ral request to the king was granted, though made in
such humble and gentle terms. Her confessor, Abel,
who was quite conversant with her native language,
Spanish, was not restored to her. It is true that her
physician and potecary were left to her, and an old
priest named Allegua, and designated as Bishop of
Llandaff, because the old man was timid and quiet,
and always imploring Catharine to yield to expedi-
ency. And she was allowed to keep some of her
servants and several women.
Henry VHI. did not believe that Catharine was
conspiring against him, but that did not prevent his
taking insulting and useless precautions. She would
have liked to have been assigned a residence more
healthy than Bugden, and nearer to her daughter.
Taking no account of this desire, Lord Sussex came
from the king with an order that she was to go at
once to Fotheringay, a place already noted for its
malaria, arising from the miasma of the marshes.
"Against all humanity and reason," says Sussex,
*' she still persists that she will not remove, saying
that, although your grace have the power, yet ne
may she, ne will she go, unless drawn with ropes."
And the noble lord asked directions what to do if
she took to her bed, and said she was ill.
Thomas Vaux, one of the queen's officers, and a
spy of Cromwell, sent information that Catharine
did not care to remain at Bugden, but would like to
272 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
live in one of her dower houses. At last she con-
sented to take up her abode at Kimbolton, though
she thought the air of that residence was not very
good for her health, from its excessive moisture.
Thpugh she made this concession, the Duke of
SuiFolk treated her with such insolence that she felt
obliged to turn him out of the room.
When she took up her abode at Kimbolton, in the
beginning of the year 1535, she very soon saw that
the little comfort left her at Bugden was much re-
duced. As Prince Arthur's widow, she had a right
to five thousand pounds a year. But she was very
irregularly paid by Sir Edmund Bedingfield during
the long sickness that preyed upon her all the time
of her stay there. She writes that she was abso-
lutely in want of money for her household expenses.
This was known in the neighbourhood, and there is
an instance that shows how much disposed the people
around were to help her.
A labourer of Grantham, near Kimbolton, found a
great pot of brass, containing a helmet of pure gold
set with jewels, and chains of gold, with some old
defaced rolls of parchment. He at once took this
little treasure to Queen Catharine. But she was
already dangerously ill in bed, and the present the
good man wished to make her was intercepted, and
fell into the hands of Henry VIII.'s agents.*
About the same time, Catharine heard that Father
* Harpsfield, p. 137.
AT KIMBOLTON. 273
Forrest, her old confessor, who had been arrested on
suspicion of high treason, had been thrown into
Newgate prison, and associated with the vilest
criminals. He would have been released, if he
would have sworn to the act of succession, but he
absolutely refused, and was subjected to twice as
much severity.
Greatly troubled at the information she received
of the torments inflicted upon her spiritual father
for no crime but fidelity to her, the queen sent him
a letter full of fervent piety and tender reverence
for the confessor of the faith ; and it breathes at the
same time the accent of ineffable sadness which re-
calls the sorrows at Calvary.
The letter and reply are to be found in the pages
of Sanders, no doubt preserved and communicated
to him by the English Jesuits. In the end of the
reply, Forrest says he has only three days to live ;
but that was not so — he was not to suffer martyr-
dom so quickly — and death seemed only deferred in
order to prolong his sufferings. He was spared
none of the horrors of the punishment, being burnt
alive.
The king had some notion that secret communica-
tions were established between Catharine and some
of her old servants ; he was enraged at it, and sent
commissionei's to Kimbolton to seize the letters, or
even persons who might be hidden there. These
agents did their work with such brutal violence that
VOL. II. T
274 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
the scene must have shortened the queen's days.*
Thus do the servants of princes, in the beh'ef that
they are making themselves acceptable to their
masters, often exceed the orders they have received.
Absolute kings ought to know that they are gene-
rally too well served by their subordinates, and they
ought to moderate, and not stimulate, a zeal that
may throw terrible responsibilities upon them, and
ruin them for ever in the judgment of history.
* This appears from a letter written to Father Forrest by one of
Catharine's ladies, Elizabeth, Lady Hammond, whom Polino, in his
Italian Chronicle, calls Lisabetha Amnonia. See Polino, pp. 126, 129,
and Miss Strickland, 2nd ed.
275
CHAPTER XXV.
I. Letter sent by Catharine from Kimbolton to Henry
VIII. — Her last Illness — ^Visit of her early Friend, Lady
Willoughby — Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador,
obtains an Audience of the Queen — Her last "Wishes —
Henry VIII. does not respect Them, or pay her Legacies
— He puts on Mourning for Catharine, as his Sister-in-
law — Anne Boleyn refuses to wear it.
II. Portrait of Catharine — Justice done to her Character
by Shakespeare — ^Appreciation of M. Eio.
I.
WHEN Catharine believed herself to feel the ap-
proach of death, she wrote to the king in
most moving language to beg him to allow her
daughter to have a short interview with her, and
receive her last blessing. This favour was merci-
lessly refused. Shortly before her death, she sum-
moned one of her servants to her bedside, and
dictated to him the following letter :
" My Lord and Dear Husband, — I commend me
to you. The hour of my death draweth fast on,
and, my case being such, the tender love I owe you
forceth me with a few words to put you in remem-
T 2
276 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
brance of the health and safeguard of your soul ;
which you ought to prefer before all worldly mat-
ters, and before the care and tendering of your own
body, for the which you have cast me into many
miseries, and yourself into many cares. For my
part, I do pardon you all, yea, I do wish and
devoutly pray God that He will also pardon you.
"For the rest, I commend unto you Mary, our
daughter ; beseeching you to be a good father unto
her, as I heretofore desired. I entreat you also in
behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions ;
which is not much, they being but three. For all
my other servants I solicit a year's pay more than
their due, lest they should be unprovided for.
" Lastly, do I vow that mine eyes desire you
above all things." *
This letter was received by Henry on December
15th, 1535. It is said he had tears in his eyes when
he read it, and that he sent a messenger to Kimbolton
to carry a loving message to his repudiated wife.
A copy was given to the Spanish ambassador. It
was little for the king to do, but perhaps it was a
good deal for this forsaken soul, so used only to
meet with a repulse where she should have found
help and support. If it was not a very decided sign
of sympathy, it was at least a last token of his
existence that Henry gave her.
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 149.
LADY WILLOUGHBY. 277
Proofs of more devoted affection and sweeter
consolations remained for Catharine in her last
moments.
Among the ladies Catharine had brought with her
from Spain was DoSa Maria de Salazar, who had
married Lord Willoughby.* She had never ceased
to keep up a communication with her distant rela-
tion, the unhappy queen. Her consent to pay but
very few visits, according to the king's desire, was
very likely intended to secure admission at the last.
As soon as Lady Willoughby was informed of the
queen's danger, she did not waste a moment, or lose
time by asking for a fresh royal permission, as it
might have been refused. She mounted her horse,
although it was very cold, snowing, and the roads
bad. A short distance from Kimbolton she had a
fall, but mounted again at once, and valiantly pur-
sued her way. She arrived at six in the evening,
when it was dark, covered with mud, and very
weary. Governor Bedingfield began by asking her
if she had a written permission to visit the Princess
Dowager, for such was the official title of Catharine.
She answered that she would get leave afterwards,
but in her present condition her chief need was to
get warm herself, and arrange her dress. After
resting a little, she insisted on being conducted to
the queen's bedside. Bedingfield did not dare to
* She had become a widow at the age of twenty-seven, and so was
mistress of her actions, when she paid her bold visit to Elimbolton.
278 CATHAEINE OP ARAGON.
refuse. This was the Ist of January, 1536. No
doubt she wished Catharine a happy New Year, not
to be spent on earth, but in heaven. Meanwhile
she poured a little balm upon the cruel wounds.
8he spoke to the queen in Castillian, their native
tongue, not understood by the other women present.
They must have exchanged some sweet recollections
of youth and home, like a beam of Spanish sunshine
come to brighten the deathbed.
Eustachius Capucius, or Chapuis, the Spanish am-
bassador, reached Kimbolton next day, January 2nd.
He had his permit in form, and penetrated without
difficulty to Catharine^s chamber, where he remained
about a quarter of an hour. Bedingfield was with him,
but did not understand the talk of the queen and
the ambassador, as he knew no Spanish.
Lady Willoughby had no permit to show. But
she had managed to secure her place by Catharine's
bed, and would not be removed till she had closed
the eyes of her royal friend.
For three or four days more Catharine was perfectly
conscious. She thus was enabled to receive the last
sacrament with great fervour. For a short time her
physician entertained hopes, but the improvement
was transitory. On the morning of January 7th the
breathing became laboured, the tongue swelled ; ex-
treme unction was administered at about ten o'clock.
At two in the afternoon the queen breathed her last
in the presence of Eustace Chapuys and Lady Wil-
CATHARINE'S DEATH. 279
onghby. As Harpsfield well says, "She changed
this woeful, troublesome existence, for the serenity
of the celestial life, and her terrestrial ingrate hus-
band for the heavenly spouse, who will never divorce
her, and with whom she will reign in glory for ever."
Catharine's will shows how carefully she kept her
accounts. She forgot none of her little current debts,
not even her laundress's. And she also left several
legacies that show her piety and gratitude to those
who had been faithful to her.*
She desired to be buried in the convent of the
reformed Franciscans ; and expressed a wish that
one of her friends should go and pray for her soul in
the chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham, and be de-
sired to distribute twenty nobles to the poor for her.
It is almost inconceivable that, when Henry heard
the will, his first thought was how to prevent the
execution of the last wishes of this woman he had
pretended to respect, and whose letter had made him
«hed some tears! Since he had become suspicious
and cruel, this king, once so generous and chivalrous,
had turned mean and avaricious, like his father. So
* She desired that her state dresses, left in her husband's hands, should
be made into church vestments ; she desired Henry VIII. to give the
necklace she brought from Spain to her daughter. There was mentioned
in it every one of her good servants and friends. Mistress Blanche
jEIOO, Mistress Margery £40, Mr. Whyller £40, Mistress Mary, her
physican's wife, £40, to her physician himself a year's salary, to
Francis Philipp, the faithful messenger who took her letters to Spain,
£40, to each of the "httle maidens" £10. See the text in Miss
Strickland, vol. iv, p. 151.
280 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
he sent for the lawyer Rich, and asked him if he
could not seize upon Catharine's furniture and ward-
robe, without settling her debts or paying her lega-
cies. Now, though it appeared that the sum she
left in her coffers would not have been enough to
satisfy the terms of her will, there was five thousand
pounds in arrear upon her dowry, much more than
the amount of which she had wished to dispose. And
there was no account taken of the jewels and other
treasures she had brought from Spain. " Such dis-
honesty appears the more intolerable."*
Rich's letter to Henry from Kimbolton is a&
follows :
" To seize her grace's goods as your own would be
repugnant to your majesty's own laws, and I think,
with your grace's favour, it would rather enforce her
blind opinion while she lived than otherwise," namely,
that she was the king's lawful wife. He then puts
the king into an underhand way of possessing him-
self of poor Catharine's spoils by advising him to
administer, by means of the Bishop of Lincoln, for
her as princess dowager, and then confiscate all as
insufiicient to defray her funeral charges.f
Henry adopted this abominable expedient, and so
avoided paying Catharine's legacies.! Nor did he
pay any more regard to her last wishes as to her
burial place ; she was interred, not in the convent of
* Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 152. t iliss Strickland.
X Mrs. Darell was paid. Miss Strickland.
THE king's meanness. 281
the Franciscans, but the Abbey of Peterborough, and
no thought was given to the prayers she had desired
at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Henry VIII., however, had a funeral mass cele-
brated at Greenwich for the repose of the soul of his
sister-in-lawy the Princess Catharine. He was present
dressed in mourning, and ordered all the Court to
follow his example. Catharine's holy and beautiful
end was much spoken of, the conclusion of an ad-
mirable life. What trials and sorrows had she not
experienced in this life as a queen I
n.
Born under the brilliant sky of Andalusia, passing^
her earliest years amid the splendours of Isabella's
Court, this princess had scarcely passed beyond
childhood before her lot was cast in a far different
spot, not only to endure the fogs of England, but,
after Prince Arthur's death, she had to undergo the
capricious and uncertain moods of King Henry VII.,
who reduced her to moral and physical distress,
and clouded the fairest years of her youth with most
tyrannical acquisitions. Her riper years had still
more bitter agonies in store for her. The material
privations she had to undergo towards the decline
of her life were as nothing compared with the most
acute anguish that could poison married life.
Yet besides her great qualities, she is shown to
have had those of a domestic and accomplished
282 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
woman. A Protestant writer says,* " She loved
work and quiet, and took great care of her house ;
ber gentleness was invariable, and she showed the
most perfect obedience to her husband." Her heart
was also most charitable, warm, and tender, and, as
we have seen, excited almost fabulous devotion even
to the last moments of her life. It is remarkable
how she managed to preserve her self-possession in
the most difficult circumstances. In her words, in
her actions, in her letters, is always to be found tho
simplicity that is a mark of real greatness. At cer-
tain times she becomes sublime, quite naturally, and
without effort ; it is only the spontaneous expression
of her inner thoughts. She made a point of claiming
the prerogatives of her rank to the very end, and not
allowing a single one to be invaded. Her modest
abode became a kind of little independent state
within great England, where she could preserve all
the majesty and inviolability of her crown. It was
the will of heaven that she should pass her life with-
out reproach, and even without suspicion. There
was never the least failure in this pure and great
soul. The king's desertion was to remain without
pretext or excuse.
There was mourning all over the Continent when
the death of the daughter of Isabella of Castille, the
real Queen of England, became known. The learned
composed prodigious eulogies ; many preachers made
* Larrey.
REVERENCE FOR CATHARINE. 283
funeral orations. Even the very Protestant writers
who were the apologists of Anne Boleyu never ven-
ture to assume the part of detractors of Catharine.
In England the people lamented for this good
queen, and never ceased to pity her as being un-
justly divorced and persecuted. Round her last
moments there arose one of those legends that
crown some heads with a mysterious halo, a kind
of popular consecration that nothing can prevent,
neither the triumph of the adverse cause nor the
pressure of suspicious despotism.
These traditions were kept up in families in after
generations, and Shakespeare gave them an elo-
quent shape. In his play of " Henry VIII.," the queen
is presented dying like a saint. And the English
poet, in verses as vigorous and lofty as the most
beautiful lines of Dante, describes a celestial vision
as sent to the queen in her last hour ; she is suddenly
roused from stupor with her attendants round her,
and exclaims,
'•No ? saw you not even now a blessed troop
Invite me to a banquet ; whose bright faces
Cast thousand beams upon me like the sun ?
They promised me eternal happiness,
And brought me garlands, Griffith, which I feel
I am not worthy yet to wear : I shall
Assuredly."
Henry VIIL, Act 4, Scene 2.
A modern author says, " She draws this assurance
from the increasing peacefulness that her reconcilia-
284 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
tion with her two great enemies gives her in the
sight of heaven. She wins her greatest victory in
forgiving Wolsey, and sends her blessing to Henry
VIII. before her death . . . alas I the most unpro-
ductive blessing that ever was.*
Shakespeare wrote under Elizabeth,! Anne Boleyn's
daughter, and had his play acted before that proud
queen ; a courtier poet — and there were many at that
time who might have been unjust to Catharine and
favoured her rival — the great tragedian in his integ-
rity is honourable enough to remain firm and inflexi-
ble like history. When genius thus comes to the
support of truth and virtue, it nobly performs the
task set by Providence.|
* Larrey, p. 236.
t M. Rio has, we think, conclusively proved that the fifth act of this
play, full of incense offered to Elizabeth, is not from Shakespeare's
hand, and was added subsequently. His demonstration is to be found
in his works. A vulgar impressario would have fancied that this mer-
cenary eulogy would pass and get pardon for the rest of the piece.
X The divorce caused £22,000 of sepret service money to be ex-
pended. Historical Portraits, Burke, vol. ii, p. 56. (Ed.)
285
CHAPTER XXVI.
Salutary Fear and wise Reflections of Anne Boleyn — Begin-
ning of Conversion — This Conversion is only Superficial
— She becomes jealous of Jane Seymour — A Violent
Scene with the King, and the Consequences — Coolness
and Jealousy of Henry VIII. — He appoints a Commission
of Inquiry — The Tournament at Greenwich ; great Impru-
dence of Anne Boleyn — Her Arrest — Her father and
uncle among the Commissioners, but her father only sits
on the Trial of the supposed Accomplices — He is excused
when Anne is brought to the Bar — Anne's uncle, the
Duke of Norfolk, presides over the High Court that finds
her guilty, and he gives Sentence — ^nne Boleyn shows
proofs of Piety and Repentance — Her Spirit rises at the
prospect and moment of Death — Indecent Joy of Henry
vin.
IT seems as if the history of Catharine of Aragon
would not be quite complete without an inquiry
into the causes of her rival's fall, and if we omitted
to point out the justice of Providence as displaj'ed
upon Anne Boleyn.
In the autumn of the year 1535, when her daugh-
ter Elizabeth was growing out of infancy with every
sign of good health, and she herself had hopes
of giving Henry a male heir, Queen Anne, having
286 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
reached the summit of earthly prosperity, began to
be alarmed at her own good fortune. She under-
stood that to be worthy of it she must treat life
more seriously, and raise her eyes to heaven. So
far her life had only been one of pride, vanity, and
revenge. She had been able to exercise these dread
passions, and fully to taste this gratification. At
last she seemed to perceive that the time had come
for giving her soul more noble occupations and a
higher aim. She was observed to avoid noisy pleas-
ures, give up dancing and hunting, gather her
women round her, and, like Catharine, join them in
needlework.
She had persuaded the king to release Latimer,
who had been under suspicion of Lutheranism, he
being, in fact, full of the new notions of Reformation.
He was appointed to preach at Court, and, far from
paying in base flattery the price of the benefits he
had received from the queen, he reminded her in his
sermon of the vanity of greatness and the deceit of
human hopes. Ann6 listened to him with an appear-
ance of profound humility. Latimer, profiting by
the opportunity, told her with the freedom of an
apostle that it was not enough to preach good doc-
trines to those around her, but that she must join
example to precept by reforming her life. Far from
bearing a grudge at Latimer for the severity of his
teaching, she made him her chaplain, and soon after-
wards procured his nomination to the episcopal See
anne's triumph. 287
of Worcester. She made arrangements with him
for giving help to the poor, and distributing abun-
dant alms.*
But, as a Protestant author of our day points out,t
" however powerful Anne's religious impressions
might be, it is impossible that a real change of heart
had taken place while she continued to incite the
king to harass and persecute his forsaken queen.'^
She knew how great was Catharine's popularity, and
the unfortunate captive queen excited in her vague
fears that mingled with remorse. When she was
told that the prisoner of Kimbolton was dead, she
cried out, with a triumphant but blind expression of
delight, " Now I am at last a queen !" She was
washing her hands in a rich ewer when Sir Richard
Southwell came to give her the information, and she
gave him the ewer, with its cover, very valuable, as
his reward. Then she went to see her parents the
same evening, and told them, with unconcealed de-
light, " Now the crown is fixed for ever on my head.'^
When the king went into mourning for Catharine,
he told Queen Anne to do the same, but she not only
did not hesitate to disobey this formal order, but
even put on a yellow dress, and told her ladies to
do the same.t Was there not in all this an almost
* In the last nine months of her life she spent £14,000 in charity,
t Miss Strickland, vol. iv, p. 251.
X Cardinal Pole says that she said of Catharine, " Doleo non qnidem
quod sit mortua, sed quod tarn honesto generis obierit " — " I am sorry,
not for her death, but because she died so well." Anne's fault in the
288 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
total absence of moral feeling ? It may be observed
that from this moment Henry VIII. began to cool in
his passionate affection for her. Anne also, after
Catharine's death, resumed her old frivolous and
worldly habits of life. She thought she had no more
need to be prudent.
Just at this time she had to endure sufferings of
the same nature as those she had before inflicted on
her excellent mistress. She soon found that she
was supplanted in Henry's heart by Jane Seymour.
The jealousy that the unhappy Anne experienced
was the more poignant because combined with a
sense of retributive justice ; she saw with despair
that she must in her turn drain the bitter cup with
which she had poisoned Catharine's life.
One day, entering Henry's chamber unexpectedly,
she found her fair rival sitting on the king's knee,
and receiving most tender caresses. Struck with
the sight as with a mortal blow, she could not re-
strain an outburst of grief and anger. Henry, who
feared that this scene might be fatal to the hopes of
offspring, did all he could to quiet her, but unsuc-
cessfully. Anne could not bear such a shock to her
mind unhurt, and was soon after prematurely con-
matter of the dress is excused by the pretence that, 1st, Henry VIH.
had himself given Anne's attendants dresses of yellow silk ; 2nd, that
this colour was the customary colour of mourning at the Court of
France. Miss Strickland shows that the first excuse is imfounded ;
and as for the second, white, and not yellow, was worn as widows'
mourning by the Queens of France.
ANNE'S ANXIETIES. 289
fined; her life was in imminent perif; she was almost
dead, and gave birth to a stillborn son.
When the king was informed of the result, he
never thought of giving her the least mark of
sympathy, but roughly entered her room, and blam-
ed her for the death of his son. Anne answered
with more spirit than prudence that " he had no one
to blame but himself for this disappointment, which
had been caused by her distress of mind about that
wench, Jane Seymour." Henry turned sullenh''
away, murmuring that " she should have no more
boys by him." It was a dark and significent threat,
and a kind of prologue to the drama that was to
bring Anne Boleyn to the scaffold.
Soon after, it was the talk of markets and public
places that there would speedily be a third queen.
Though she had experienced so severe a shock,
Anne gradually recovered her health, but not her
peace of mind. She endeavoured in vain to obtain
the dismissal of her dangerous rival from the palace.
The check must have shown her that she no longer
possessed a real influence over the king, and that
she must resign herself to see a new star eclipse her
own. She fell into a black melancholy ; she did not
appear at the Court banquets ; she strayed in sad-
ness amid the darkest and most lonely thickets of
Greenwich Park. The king had not forgiven her
the hasty answer she had made to his unjust re-
proach. He shunned her in private and in public.
VOL. II. U
290 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
She was refused the pleasures of motherhood, that
might have been her best consolation. Her daugh-
ter Elizabeth had been removed from her care and
caresses, and placed with her nurse in a separate
abode, on account of the state and ceremony that
must surround the heir to the crown.
She had entirely alienated the good-will of her
uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, by her carelessness and
misplaced airs of grandeur and disdain ; and had
turned her old mistress, Mary, widow of Louis XII.,
into a declared enemy.
As even on the throne she had preserved her old
coquetry, and the familiarity and boldness of her
manners with men, she encouraged them all, not
excepting the lowest officers of her household, to
speak to her in an unsuitable tone of equality, and
allow themselves great freedom of expression to her.
She had such a thirst for general admiration that
she even encouraged a man of such low station as
the musician Smeaton to exhibit marks of the passion
she inspired. All these little tricks were reported to
the king, greatly exaggerated by the enemies who
spied upon her all around.
Henry VIII. wished to escape a marriage bond
that began to seem unbearable, and became more
and more impatient to make the new object of his
passion sharer of the throne. He was only too
willing to hear and welcome serious denunciations,
and even most absurd gossip, already making Anne
its subject and victim.
COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. 291
Thus it was that he believed the public report,
that named as her lovers, besides the musician Smea-
ton, three gentlemen of her household, Brereton,
Weston, and Norris. He did not even reject a
strange report that slandered the innocent affection
of the queen for her brother, George Lord Rochford.
This last calumny was, to a certain extent, sup-
ported by the evidence of Lady Rochford, inspired by
her infernal hatred of her sister-in-law, and murder-
ous jealousy of a husband who had been faithless to
her in another way, so that she eagerly seized the
chance of revenge.*
In the month of April, 1536, during the proroga-
tion of parliament, a secret commission was directed
by the king to inquire into the conduct of Anne
Boleyn. It is fearful and shocking to find on this
commission the names of the Duke of Norfolk, the
queen's uncle, the Duke of Suffolk, the king's
brother-in-law by his marriage with the Princess
Mary, and even of Anne's own father, the Earl of
Wiltshire.t
* Some years afterwards Lady Rochford was incnipated in the guilt
of Catharine Howard, and condemned, like the unhappy queen, to be
beheaded, confessed upon the scaffold that she was not guilty of the
crimes she was condemned for, but had deserved to die for having
borne false witness against her husband. The most she said against
him as an actual fact was that she had seen Lord Rochford sitting on
the foot of the queen's, his sister Anne's, bed ; but she drew inferences
that wore very far-fetched and slanderous.
t The names of the members of this extraordinary commission are
as follows : Sir Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Nor-
folk, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Wiltshire, the Earls of Oxford,
u2
292 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
This commission was to take informations con-
cerning the four real or supposed lovers of the
queen. It had been appointed on the 24th of April,
and had not commenced its work when two events
occurred most injurious to Anne Boleyn.
Two or three days afterwards, that is to say on
the 27th or 28th, the queen saw the musician Smea-
ton leaning on the window of her presence-chamber
in a dejected and melancholy attitude. She asked
him why he was so sad.
" It is no matter," he answered. Then she said,
" You may not look to have me speak to you as if
you were a nobleman, because you be an inferior
person."
" No, no, madam," he replied, " a look suflSceth
me."*
On the 1st of May following, Anne was guilty of a
great act of imprudence with Norris, one of her ad-
mirers. She was present at a tournament at Green-
Westmoreland, and Sussex, Lord Sandys, Thomas Cromwell, Sir
William Fitzwilliam, the Lord High Admiral, an old man whose
career had been very brilliant; the Lord Treasurer, Sir William
Paulet, afterwards Marquis of Winchester, and the nine Judges of the
Courts of Westminster; Sir John Fitz-James, Sir John Baldewyn,
Sir Richard Lister, Sir John Porte, Sir John Spelman, Sir Walter
Luke, Sir Antony Fitz-Herbert, Sir Thomas Englefield, and Sir
William Shelley. The part taken by Anne Boleyn's father will be
seen afterwards.
* Some historians say that Smeaton had come to warn the queen of
her danger, but that his foolish passion made him forget everything.
See Lingard, Mackintosh, and Miss Strickland. It seems that Brereton,
one of the gentlemen denounced to Henry, had just been arrested.
THE TOURNAMENT. 293
wich with her royal husband, richly dressed, and in
all royal state. Lord Rochford was the chief chal-
lenger, and Henry Norris one of the defenders. All
at once, in the middle of the splendid pageant, the
king left his gallery with an expression of fury, fol-
lowed by five or six of the oflBcers in attendance. The
spectators were astonished, and the queen especially
seemed dismayed, and retired suddenly.
The reason for Henry's wrath was this. Either
by accident, or on purpose, Anne had let her
handkerchief fall from the gallery into the lists.
Norris, warm with fighting, and being under the
gallery, picked it up, kissed it fervently, and restored
it to the queen on the point of his lance. This put
the finish to the king's jealousy, previously awakened
by perfidious suggestions. Rochford was arrested
at the barrier ; Norris, having refused to accuse the
queen and himself, was sent to the Tower from
Westminster. The same evening Mark Smeaton and
Sir Francis Weston were committed to prison. Next
morning, after breakfast, an officer came to Anne and
said, " Madam, the barge is ready." She went at
once, and they ascended the river in silence to the
Tower. They met another barge containing the Duke
of Norfolk, Cromwell, and the Lord Chancellor,
Audley. The latter announced her arrest on a
charge of adultery and infidelity to her royal husband.
Anne clasped her hands and protested her innocence.
The barge was brought to the stairs at the old Saxon
294 CATHAKINE OF ARAGON.
arch called the Traitor's Gate, and she was lodged
in the same apartment she had occupied the night
before her coronation.
During the second week in May juries were sum-
moned from Middlesex and Kent; the indictment
was prepared and read to the prisoners on the lltb
of May.* The sitting of the court commenced on
Wednesday, the 12th. At the first hearing the four
supposed accomplices of the queen appeared — Sir
Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brere-
ton, and Mark Smeaton. All the commissioners we
have mentioned were present, the Earl of Wiltshire
among them, when the four prisoners were brought
to the bar. Only one of them, Smeaton, acknowledg-
ed his guilt, for he had been made to expect mercy
as the price of a confession. The other three pleaded
not guilty. The verdict of the petty jury found
them all guilty. Their finding was taken as a verdict,,
and was to supersede the necessity of strict legal
proof.
The Duke of Norfolk had been appointed lord
high steward, and as such presided on Monday, May
15th, over the court for the trial of Anne Boleyn
and her brother. Lord Kochford. But four of the
* A few years ago there were found some dusty bags labelled,
Baga de Secretis, and in them the names of the jurors of Middlesex and
Kent, tho text of the indictment, and the crimes laid to the charge of
Anne Boleyn and her accomplices. The facts are stated, as well as the
places and dates of the alleged commission of the crimes. Turner is
the first author who has made extracts from the Baga de Secretis.
Froude made a more minute examination and greater use of them.
THE TRIAL. 295
commiHsioners who had sat before were not present
on this occasion. They were Shrewsbury, Essex,
Cumberland, and Wiltshire.*
The latter was therefore not summoned to try his
own daughter, as has been supposed. But on the
preceding Friday he had condemned Queen Anne's
accomplices, and their conviction implied the un-
happy queen's guilt; she could not be acquitted
when the crimes attributed to Norris and the other
three accused had been judicially proved. The cases
may have been tried separately and successively,
but they were substantially connected and indivisible.
Though the absence of the Earl of Wiltshire on
the day of his daughter's trial is proved, there is no
great reduction of the odium attaching to the des-
picable conduct of this unnatural father in a trial
where his name ought not to have appeared. But,
failing her father, Anne had to encounter her uncle,
the Duke of Norfolk, who bore an implacable hatred
to her. Among her judges there was also her old
lover, Percy, Earl of Northumberland, but he fainted
almost as soon as he took his seat ; he was carried
out, left the court, and died less than a year after-
wards.
It must be allowed that Anne defended herself
with considerable force and eloquence. The Court
* Froudo, vol. ii, p. 494. M. Andin is therefore not quite accurate
in the statement that the Earl of Wiltshire, within a few hours, con-
demned his daughter to be burnt alive and his son to be quartered.
296 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
was not open, but, though the audience were limited,
their feelings were so strong as to transpire beyond
its bounds, and penetrate the closed doors. It was
even reported among the crowd which pressed
around the chamber that the queen had made a
triumphant reply to all the proofs of the indictment,
and that her acquittal was certain. But the peers
disappointed this public expectation ; some under the
influence of hatred, some of fear, they almost unani-
mously found Queen Anne and her brother, Lord
Rochford, guilty.*
After the verdict, Anne was required to put off the
marks of royalty ; she did so without resistance or
complaint, but vigorously maintained that she had
not committed any of the crimes laid to her charge.
After she had undergone this kind of degradation
from her royal state, her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk,
as high steward, gave sentence upon her, to be burnt
or beheaded at the king's good pleasure. At the
mention of the stake, Anne grew pale, and for the
first time showed signs of fear. But when the duke
had concluded the cruel sentence she clasped her
hands, and, raising them to heaven, made her appeal
to the Judge of all. " Father I Creator ! Thou
who art the Way, the Life, and the Truth, knowest
* Miss Strickland, from Bishop Godwin. The Duke of Suffolk is
said to have voted for acquittal ; unanimity is not necessary in the
Court of Peers as it is with a common jury.
anne's address. 297
whether I have deserved this death." Then, turning
to her judges, she said, " My lords, I will not say
your sentence is unjust, nor presume that my reasons
can prevail against your convictions. I am willing
to believe that you have sufficient reasons for what
you have done, but then they must be other than
those which have been produced in Court, for I am
clear of all the offences which you then laid to my
charge. I have ever been a faithful wife to the king,
though I do not say I have always shown him that
humility which his goodness to me, and the honour
to which he raised me, merited. I confess I have
had jealous fancies and suspicions of him which I
had not discretion and wisdom enough to conceal at
all times. But God knows, and is my witness, that
I never sinned against him in any other way. Think
not that 1 say this in the hope to prolong my life.
God hath taught me how to die, and He will
strengthen my faith. Think not that I am so be-
wildered in my mind as not to lay the honour of my
chastity to heart now in mine extremity, when I
have maintained it all my life long as much as ever
queen did. I know these my last words will avail
me nothing but for the justification of my chastity
and honour. As for my brother and those others
who are unjustly condemned, I would willingly
suffer many deaths to deliver them ; but, since it so
pleases the king, I shall willingly accompany them
298 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
in death with this assurance, that I shall lead an
endless life with them in peace." *
The Lord Mayor was present at the verdict and
sentence of Anne Boleyn, and he said, some time
afterwards, " he could not observe anything in the
proceedings against her, but that they were resolved
to make an occasion to get rid of her." As he was
chief judge in the civic Court of Justice, his opinion
is of importance. Camden says that all the spec-
tators thought that Anne was not guilty.f It has
been observed that one witness only deposed to a
direct and precise fact against her, the musician
Smeaton. And this witness, quite against all rules
of criminal procedure, was not confronted with her.
On the next day the king signed the death-warrant
of this woman who had been his beloved wife, and
sent Cranmer to desire her to prepare for death.
This visit of the Primate of Canterbury made Anne
imagine that Henry would pardon her. She told
those about her that she understood she was to be
banished, and she supposed she should be sent to
Antwerp. Possibly Cranmer had intentionally left
her under this mistake, telling her that she had no-
thing to hope if she did not consent to the dissolu-
tion of her marriage, and the renunciation of all
claim to the crown for her daughter Elizabeth.
* It is a foreigner, a Dutchman, Crispin de Mishervo, \vho gives
these words ; he left a metrical version, falsely attributed to Marot,
that is highly esteemed by Meteren, the historian of the Low Countries.
t Miss Strickland, vol. iv, pp. 274, 275.
THE archbishop's COURT. 299^
Anne accepted the degrading act required of her
without the smallest resistance, in hopes of re-
deeming herself from death.
On the ensuing day, May 17, Anne received a
citation to appear before the archbishop's Court at
Lambeth to answer certain questions as to the
validity of her marriage with Henry VIII. A dupli-
cate was served on the king, but he did not appear,
and was represented by his proctor, Doctor Sampson.
Though the ex-queen was under sentence of death,
she was compelled to appear in person before the
primate. She was taken from the Tower to Lam-
beth. For form's sake, two proctors were assigned
to her. Doctors Walton and Barbour, who in her
name admitted that before her marriage there had
been a precontract with Percy, and this was one of
Henry's greatest objections to the validity of his
marriage with her.* This was another retribution
of Providence on her who had so worked for the
divorce of Catharine of Aragon ; but that noble queen
had never assented to the judgment which branded
her and disinherited her daughter. Anne, passive
and hanging down her head, accepted all the
humiliations and forfeitures.
* Henry Vill. had suggested another, his previous connection with
Mary Bole]^, Anne's sister, and that this had created an impediment
to his marriage both by natural and divin* law. This cause of nullity
was also allowed. Burnet's Records, vol. xxvi ; see also the histories of
Lingard and Audin. Percy, on oath, denied that there had ever been
«ny engagement or precontract with Anno Boleyn.
500 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
As a recompense for her compliance, the king did
not grant her life, but excused the stake.
Most strange fact, and now incontestible, Anne
Bolejn died a Catholic* This enemy of the Papacy,
in some ways its personal enemy, desired to confess
to a priest in the Roman communion. Remorse and
a wish for forgiveness brought her back to the
Church's feet. Her conference with the priest is
said to have been long ; long indeed must have been
the history of the guilty feelings and secret faihngs
of this great sinner. But it seems that absolution
was only granted her on condition of a moral re-
paration made to Catharine, who was no more, in
the person of the Princess Mary, her daughter. So,
when the priest had gone, Anne went into the cham-
ber occupied by six ladies sent by Henry VHI.
nominally to support and cheer her, but really as
spies upon her. She took the Lady Kingston into
her presence-chamber, and there, locking the door
* Miss Strickland relies for proof on two good authorities : Kingston,
the lieutenant of the Tower, who in his letters to Cromwell formally
attests this, and the other is Speed, who tells the following details on
contemporary authority. Probably he heard it from Lady Kingston
herself, and her evidence in this is very important. Miss Strickland
is sui-prised at the unfavourable bias displayed by Roman Catholic
accounts of the last moments of Lady Anne. But is not she herself too
indulgent ?
[It was by no means a strange fact. AH Henry had done was to
separate the jurisdiction of the Church of England from that of Rome.
The doctrine was as yet untouched by authority, and though Anne
Boleyn had accepted a copy of the English Bible, this did not make
her cease to follow the ritual to which she had been brought up.] (Ed.)
SfcENE WITH LADY KINGSTON. 301
upon them, willed her to sit in the chair of state.
Lady Kingston answered that it was her duty to
stand, and not to sit at all in her presence, much
less upon the seat of state of her the queen. "Ah,
madam," replied Anne, " that title is gone ; I am a
condemned person, and by the law have no estate
left me in this life, but for clearing of mine own con-
science. I pra}'- you sit down." "Well," said Lady
Kingston, " I have often played the fool in my youth,
and, to fulfil your command, I will do it once more
in mine age," and thereupon sat down under the
cloth of state upon the throne. Then the queen
most humbly fell on her knees before her, and, hold-
ing up her hands with tearful eyes, charged her as
in presence of God and His angels, and as she would
answer to her before them, when all should appear
to judgment, that she would so fall down before the
Lady Mary's grace, her daughter-in-law, and in like
manner ask her forgiveness for the wrongs she had
done her, for till that was accomplished her conscience
could not be quiet.
Soon after, she said to Kingston, the lieutenant
of the Tower, " Mr. Kingston, I hear that I shall not
die afore noon, and I am very sorry, therefore, for I
thought to be dead by this time, and past my pain."
" I told her," says Kingston, ** that the pain should
be little, it was so subtle." And then she said, " I
liave heard say the executioner is very good, and 1
have a little neck," and put her hands about it.
302 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
laughing heartilv. " I have seen men, and also
women, executed, and they have been in great sor-
row, but to my knowledge this lady hath much joy
and pleasure in death," continues the lieutenant.
It must be said this gaiety is painful — a discord in
such a death — but perhaps an excuse may be found
in some estrangement of such a weak mind.*
The execution was fixed for May 19th. Henry
VIII. ordered that it should take place on the green
within the Tower. It -^as the first time in England
that the blood of a crowned queen was to be shed
upon the scaffold. Not a single instance is to be
found under the Plantagenets, and they were not
paragons of mercy. The age of chivalrous respect
for the person of a queen, hitherto considered almost
sacred and inviolable, had gone by. To the last
moment of her life Anne protested that she had
never committed a single act of conjugal infidelity .f
At the appointed time she mounted the scaffold
with a firm step, attended by Sir William Kingston
and four of her ladies. Among the chief personages
come to behold this melancholy spectacle she recog-
nised the Duke of Suffolk and Secretary Cromwell,
whom she had formerly favoured very much, and
whom she assisted to gain the favour of Henry VIII.
She might also have seen the king's natural son, the
young Duke of Eichmond, who had no reluctance to
* Probably hysterical. (Ed.)
t Her innocence before marriage must remain matter of speculation.
THE EXECUTION. 303
gratify an unwholesome curiosity by coming to see
how the unhappy lady would die who had only de-
scended from the throne on the way to execution.
When she came to the scaffold, she turned to the
spectators and said, "Good Christian people, I am
come hither to die, according to law, for by the law
1 am judged to die, and therefore I will speak no-
thing against it. I am come hither to accuse no
man, nor to speak anything of that whereof I am
accused, as I know full well that aught I could say
in my defence doth not appertain unto you. I pray
God to save the king, and send him long to reign
over you."
Covering her head, and confining her hair with a
little linen cap, that the action of the sword might
not be impeded, she said, " Alas I poor head, in a
very brief space thou wilt roll in the dust on the scaf-
fold ;" then last words to the ladies that were with
her, " Esteem your honour far beyond your life ;
and in your prayers to the Lord Jesus forget not to
pray for my soul."
Mary Wyatt, sister of Sir Thomas, was there
among the ladies who attended on Anne Boleyn.
She alone followed her on to the platform of the
scaffold. It is said she had brought a message frooi
her brother, Sir Thomas. She showed her fidelity
to this old attachment to the very last. Anne gave
her prayer-book to this constant and devoted friend,
as a token of thankfulness and last adieu.
304 CATHARINiJ OF ARAGON.
Then the ex-queen knelt down, and, just as the
executioner raised his arm, she only said, " 0, Lord
God, have pity on my soul."
The head fell at one blow of the sword, as
Kingston had expected.
Henry was hunting near London when he heard
the cannon-shot, arranged to be a signal of the death
of her who had owed such various fate to him. He
could not restrain an outburst of indecent joy. The
rest of the day he spent in feasting. Next day he
married Jane Seymour.
305
CHAPTER XXVII.
I. Spiritual Supremacy of Henry VIII. — Correspondence
of Starkey and Reginald Pole.
II. Immediate Consequences of the Bill of Supremacy —
Spoliation of the Monasteries, and Distribution of their
Property to the Nobles or Gentry of the Counties, to
Win them over to the new Schism — Use of Terror to
intimidate the Court Nobles — Popular Rebellion stifled
in Blood, after Lying Promises of Amnesty — ^Pauperism
and Vagrancy repressed by hard and cruel Penal Laws.
III. Political Consequences of the Bill of Supremacy —
Religious Consequences, and Possibility of the Return of
an Anti-Christian Imperialism.
I.
IN the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there were
a few examples given by kings of violation of
the indissolubility of the marriage bond.* But these
princes had no notion of abolishing the spiritual
jurisdiction of the Holy See, and making themselves
popes in their own states. In the sixteenth century,
when heresy had raised the standard of religious re-
volt in Germany and the Low Countries, men's minds
were everywhere prepared for the separation of
princes and people from the head of the church.
* And a flagrant one much later in the person of Louis XII. of
France. (Ed.)
VOL. II. X
306 CATHARINE OP ARAGON.
Nevertheless, it took a king like Henry VIII., a
logician and theologian, to understand that it would
be to his advantage immediately to invent a new-
form of law for his own use, intended to cover
nameless wrongs and inexcusable rashness.
The theory of the spiritual supremacy of the lay
sovereign, as conceived by Henry VIII., was stupidly
simple. It is entirely contained in the few lines that
serve as a title to Richard Sampson's treatise on
this supremacy, a treatise approved by the king's
privy council on December 2nd, 1533, and serving to
expound the reasons for a bill brought in to the
English parliament on this matter.
" The discourse of Richard Sampson, Dean of the
Chapel Royal ; in which he teaches, exhorts, and
admonishes all, especially the English, to obey the
king's majesty in the first place, because the Word of
God orders it ; not to be obedient to the Bishop of
Rome, who has no power over them by any divine
right, because the king orders them not to obey
him. Those who act otherwise he teaches especially
that they are despisers of divine law. There is
therefore no reason why the English should have a
fear of any human authority of the Bishop of Rome ;
for he has no other authority over the English than
human, that is by man's consent ; let them, therefore,
obey God, not man. This is the truth established by
God."*
* Latin.
THE SUPRE5IACY. 307
And we should say that it is just the contrary to the
truth established by man. It is at least strange to
maintain that spiritual jurisdiction only appertains to
the pope by human right, while it appertains to a
temporal prince by divine right.
Well, this wager against good sense was actually
won by Henry VIII. by means of his tyranny and
the terror he spread around him.
Yet his conscience was exercised by doubts and
secret remorse, more real than his pretended scruples
concerning his first marriage, without his choosing
to allow them to himself. And he desired to quiet
this remorse by trying to lean on the assent given to
his doctrine of the supremacy by the most respected
men in England.
It may well be supposed that Henry VIII. was
much pleased with Doctor Sampson's treatise. More,
Fisher, and some priests and strict monks had resist-
ed these theories. Parliament was in haste to adopt
them, and, in a bill of unheard-of severity, declared
anyone who should deny the king's spiritual supre-
macy to be guilty of high treason. But that was
not enough for Henry VIII. He wished to win over
to his side the young Reginald Pole, who several
years before had declined to admit the principle of
the legality of the divorce when it was under con-
sideration, and after that time had prudently left his
country, and lived in Italy, out of reach of the new
English criminal code.
x2
308 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
The king had not ostensibly withdrawn his coun-
tenance from him, and permitted him to receive the
emoluments of his deanery of Exeter ; he had even
excused him the oath that all holders of benefices
were required to take to the issue of Anne Boleyu.
He wished to know Pole's feelings on the point of
supremacy, and even of the divorce, now it was an
accomplished fact. For this purpose he turned to
Starkey, his almoner, intimate with the young priest,
and Starke}'- told him that his friend had always
preserved an absolute silence with him on that
matter. Henry pressed him to write to Reginald
Pole, as his talents would be valuable when employed
in defence of the supremacy, if he were favourable
to it.
By the king's orders Starkey wrote a long letter
to Pole, and at the end assured him that the king
never intended to part from Rome on points of doc-
trine, and had no desire to make innovations in
religious form and ceremony. Otherwise he said he
would never have entered his service.
Pole's reply did not come for two months ; to ex-
cuse the delay he wrote that Starkey's letter had
reached him by way of Florence, and had been very
long on the road. He promised that he would make
a careful study of the questions addressed to him
from the king, and would answer them clearly and
distinctly, without circumlocution or dissimulation.*
* Evidently Pole only wished to gain time, and, by not allowing his
STARKEY AND POLE. 309
Meanwhile some Carthusians and priests had been
executed for having refused to subscribe to the doc-
trine of roj'-al supremacy. When Starkey wrote
again to Pole, he was desired to explain these facts
to him, as they might have been presented in a false
light. The worthy almoner of Henry VIII. says it
is quite plain the Carthusians were put to death for
having asserted that the pope's supremacy was an
essential article of the Catholic faith, contrary to the
act of Parliament lately passed, branding denial of
the king's supremacy as high treason. So they had
to suflfer the punishment of traitors, that is to say,
were hung, drawn, and quartered, not for any point
of religion, but for contravention of the act of
Parliament. Was this explanation made to Pole's
satisfaction ? We doubt it very much.
This letter crossed one of Reginald Pole's, promis-
ing that he would soon send his opinion, drawn at
length, and with authorities on the questions of the
supremacy and the divorce. Then ensued more
pressure from Starkey, and a short answer of Pole's,
saying that he was consulting and studying the
Holy Scripture, as its authority is above that of
man.
The learned editor of this correspondence, hardly
published a year ago,* very gratuitously supposes
opinion to transpire, endeavoured to produce the greater effeet on the
mind of Henry VIII. when he should send him his tract that was in
preparation, " De Unione Ecclesiastica."
* Among the last works published by the Early English Text Society,
310 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
that Pole, before committing himself to anything
decisive in favour of either king or pope, wished to
know which of them would recompense his assent
and services the best. Pole, as we have seen above,
had told Henry to his face what he thought of the
divorce. As he gi*ew older he had not changed his
opinion on this point; at Rome and in Italy he
could not have learnt to love the doctrine of the
temporal supremacy of kings. It was the restoration
of Pagan imperialism, when the emperor was also
high priest.
Pole worked a long time afterwards in great
secresy at his treatise, " De Qnione Ecclesiastica," and
he addressed it to the king on May 29th, 1536, with
a letter in courteous and deferential tones, at vari-
ance, it must be said, with the harsh language of this
celebrated treatise.
When Pole was blamed for the vehemence of his
personal attacks upon Henry VIII., he replied that
tenderness had not been successful with that prince^
and that he thought it his duty to exhibit the naked
truth to him, thinking that a faithful image of him-
self might shock him, and make him retreat sooner
or later. It must also be remembered that Henry
Vni. had entered upon his course of persecutions
and cruelties, and was too unsparing of his adver-
saries to deserve mercy himself.
Mr. Sidney Heritage has brought otit this work, with full luxury of
type and erudition. See England in the Reign of Heniy VIII., vol. xxxii,
extra series, Starkey'a Life and Letters. London, Triibner, 1878.
pole's treatise. 311
It was afterwards imputed as a crime to Pole that
he had published this treatise. He replied that he had
written it for the king alone, and would not have
had it printed, had not an incorrect edition appeared
in German, from some manuscript leaves no doubt
stolen from him by a faithless scribe.
Henry VHI. restrained his anger when he received
the treatise, " De Unione Ecclesiastica," first because
the book was not then printed, and that he was
afraid that Reginald Pole would be driven to publish
it, if he were treated too harshly, and afterwards be-
cause he wished to bring him to England. He de-
sired that he should be told to return thither to
discuss several passages that he did not understand.
Pole had no doubt that this request for explanation
concealed a snare ; he saw plainly that for him to go
to England was to kindly put himself into the tiger's
mouth. So he declined the invitation with formal
respect and hidden irony.
II.
Henry VlII.'s divorce, and the religious innovations
that accompanied it, at once produced results of
great gravity. Even before the divorce was com-
pleted, the king's policy of corruption, already pre-
paring his revolt against the Church of Rome, was
directed to captivating the favour of the gentry, that
little country aristocracy, by granting to them, or
selling at a low price, the property of the monas-
312 CATHARINE OP AEAGON.
teries confiscated by the treasury. William the
Conqueror had divided the lands of the Saxons
among the Norman knights, the companions of his
achievements and victories. Under Henry VIIL,
there was a fresh Domesday book. This was the regis-
ter of the spoliation in time of peace. In order to re-
ceive a magnificent share of the lands brought under
cultivation by the monks, there was no need to draw
the sword or expose a life to the hazard of battle. It
was enough to deny the pope's supremacy, and to
join the king's spiritual revolt. If the process was
not very chivalrous, it was certainly lucrative.
As for the high aristocracy of the Court, no doubt
they had a large share of the spoil, but they were
insatiable for honour and power. Henry VIII. both
feared and hated them ; they were too near him.
He made use alternately of corruption and intimida-
tion to win them over or to daunt them. But the
first method appeared uncertain to him, and he
trusted most to the latter.
The Court was so different from what it had been
at the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign ; the ruin of
Catholicism seemed to be the signal for fearful de-
moralisation of the higher nobility of the state.
Passions were not restrained now that the king
had set the example of letting loose his own. All
men sought refuge from the evil forebodings that
hung over the heads of the most distinguished in the
intoxication of pleasure. Suspicion and anxiety were
henry's despotism. 313
everywhere making way ; treachery was active even
at the domestic fireside, and betrayal was hatched in
the shade. The father distrusted the son, and the
son the father. The servants that seemed the most
faithful were spies upon their masters ; ladies of the
highest rank, having lulled their husbands to sleep
with feigned caresses, basely denounced them, and
handed them over to the king's justice — that is to
say, to the executioner.* The suspicious despotism
of Henry VIII. went so far that it could not be con-
tented with the penal laws, though they were already
strict enough in political matters. When one ac-
cused of treason did not appear to answer before the
Court, the English law held him to be guilty ; he
was no longer simply contumacious, but out of law.
A sentence of attainder was recorded against him.
He was liable to arrest wherever he was found. An
ordinary jury was summoned, his identity was estab-
lished, and he was put to death. His property was
confiscated, his children and grandchildren suffered
corruption of the blood, a cruel fiction that cut them
off in a way from their family, prevented them from
inheriting from their grandfather if he survived their
father, or from their uncles, aunts, or other collateral
relations.
A bill of attainder was brought in by the crown
* This was what Lady Rochford did [Jane Parker, daughter of Lord
Morley] (Ed.), and other ladies tried to follow her example, among
others the Duchess of Norfolk.
314 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
and passed against the fugitive by parliament. A
bill was first brought into the House of Lords on the
information of the attorney-general, and after the
third reading it was sent down to the Commons,
where it was again debated, and almost always
passed. It was then sent to the king, and he gave
his assent.
Henry VIH. applied the perfection of his tyranny
to the bills of attainder. According to a new system
of jurisprudence contrived by him, when the accused
was not really a fugitive, the fact of his absence was
enough for the supposed contumacy. Thus Henry
kept Cromwell, Earl of Essex, prisoner in the Tower,
and the Countess of Salisbury and the Marchioness
of Exeter, mother and sister of Cardinal Pole. These
imprisoned nobles were cited to appear before the
Court of Peers ; they did not answer, because they
were kept in fetters in their dungeons. This was a
way to condemn them unheard, and to ensure the
accuser's triumph, even without a charge to bring.
Seventeen bills of attainder were thus passed in
1539, sixteen in 1540, and fifteen in 1541.
The attorney-general laid the information ; then
the English peers and members of parliament gave
their votes in a low voice, and with unwearied com-
plaisance condemned the, victims indicated by the
crown ; so much did terror degrade the character and
freeze the soul.
It was curious that Henry VIII., tormented by
GREAT CORRUPTION. 315
remorse, consulted his lawyers whether it was abso-
lutely necessary for him to give a formal assent to
such bills of attainder, and the answer he received
was that he might dispense with it, the essential
point being that he should be informed of it. Per-
haps he wished to persuade himself that he avoided
the responsibility of these deeds by not putting his
signature at the foot. It was the last resource of a
conscience at bay.
But it is plain that, when he found none around
him but minds moulded b}"- corruption, he must at
last have made them yield with greater facility to
his religious requirements, especially as he always
exhibited a prospect of the scaffold. There was really
a pretence of taking him for pope in England ; even
the great English nobles, formerly so haughty and
high-spirited, vied with one another who should bow
the lowest to this civic tiara.
As for the episcopal bench, that other aristocracy,
they were, as we have mentioned above, with three
or four exceptions, inexpressibly weak and cowardly.
The rulers thought they could get anything from
these bishops, trained to subserviency. So, under
Edward VI., Henry's successor, the articles to be
published to the people were, by the Duke of Somer-
set's direction, settled by the Privy Council. "Await-
ing second thoughts, they adhered to the six articles
of Henry VIIL, and did not blush to require an ex-
press declaration from the bishops that they would
316 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
make profession of the doctrine as it might from time to
time he established and explained hy the king and the
clergy." As Bossuet says, " It was only too clear
that the clergy were only mentioned for form's sake,
as everything was really done in the king's name." *
If the Bishop of London or the Archbishop of
Canterbury had been asked what was the right doc-
trine to hold on the point of transubstantiation, the
prelate might have answered, " Provisionally we
must believe what Henry VIII., of religious and
glorious memory, ordered ; but, for your definitive
faith, wait till the doctrine has been settled by his
successor." f
If now we pass from the aristocracy to the mer-
cantile or middle classes, it must be allowed that the
soil was much more favourably disposed for religious
innovations. They were already powerful and nu-
merous, and were imbued with new notions imported
from Germany and the Low Countries. So they were
quite ready to adopt the denial of the pope's supre-
macy. Only Henry VIII.'s new ecclesiastical consti-
tution seemed insufficient to these disciples of Luther
and Zwinglius, and, when they ventured to profess
their doctrines openly, the pile was lighted for them
also. This judicial process had been invented by
* Bossuet, Histoire des Variations, Book vii.
t This is like the answer of a sectarian socialist in 1831 to one of
his neophytes, who asked if the human soul preserved its individuality
after death. " Come back in a few days ; the doctrina is not settled
yet."
COUNTRY RISING. 317
the reforming king, to prove his strict impartiality
towards all who denied his personal supremacy.
As for the English people properly so called^
meaning especially the country people, they were
firmly attached to Catholic traditions ; and so, when
their religious ceremonies were altered, when a
change in their worship was attempted, and the de-
struction of their altars — when the monks, givers of
the bread of charity to all, were turned out of their
monasteries, deep despair fell upon these simple minds
faithful to their creed, there was a general rising in the
north of England. Thirty or forty thousand country-
men took up arms in the name of the Cross, and the
army sent against them was nearly surprised and
surrounded. If at this moment Charles V. could
have sent a good general to the insurgents, and
landed a few thousand Spaniards to help them, the
new Church would have been extinguished, with the-
king's supremacy, and even his crown.*
But Henry gained over or disarmed the chief
leaders of this popular sedition by making them
promises of religious freedom and amnesty that he
did not keep. Blood flowed in torrents ; the Catholic
worship t was again proscribed, even in private
* It may be remembered that in 1528 and 1529 Mendoza wrote to
Charles V. that discontent had come to a head, and that the people
only wanted a leader to rise against Henry VIII. and overthrow him.
pTes, but that would have taken a native leader with a cause, not a
foreigner, and we suspect Charles V. himself knew this very well. Ed.],
t Only so far as that clergy, still owning the pope, were prosecuted.-
(Ed.)
318 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
houses. The heads of priests and monks who re-
fused to take the oath of supremacy were put to
ransom, or rolled on the scaffold.
The English people were writhing under physical
misery that cannot be imagined, as well as the
moral sufferings of a constrained conscience. The
monasteries, so numerous all over the country, al-
ways had plenty of bread to feed the wanderer,
clothing to cover his nakedness, and a temporary
shelter for the homeless and destitute. A large
number of hospitals, served by the monks, were
devoted to the cure of various diseases.
When Henry VIII. had confiscated the property of
the hospitals and monasteries, he at once saw the
void left in his kingdom by voluntary charity, with
its inexhaustible sources, not to be met with outside
of Catholicism and its productive establishments. So
he was induced to take measures of excessive rigour
against the pauperism he considered a crime. When
a poor wretch, even not able-bodied, was found beg-
ging beyond the bounds of his parish, he was arrest-
ed, whipped, put in the stocks, and kept in prison three
days and three nights, fed upon bread and water,
and then sent back to his home.
In a statute that was the king's own work, it was
enacted that, on a second offence, a mendicant vaga-
bond should have his ear cut off. At the third
offence he was condemned to death as a felon and
an enemy to the state.*
* Reeve's History of Law, vol. iv, pp. 227, 228.
VAGRANCY LAWS. 319
These arrangements were not confined to threats.
In the last fourteen years of his reign, Henry VIII.
caused about seventy thousand of his subjects to be
hung for the crime of repeated vagrancy, by a literal
application of the statute he had enacted.* After-
wards there was a respite from these sanguinary
deeds. Subsequently a palliative for pauperism was
contrived in the establishment of workhouses. Al-
though certain improvements have been made
lately in the conduct of these houses, not much has
been done to diminish this leprosy of misery, born of
the Anglican schism.f
m.
The papacy had hitherto been greatly respected in
England, and Henry VIII. and his worthy ministers
spread the most atrocious calumnies against it, in
order to make the people hostile to Romanism.
While the higher orders were intimidated by judicial
rigours, the lower were led by their hatred ; then
fanaticism was roused, and at last they came to
favour, or at least tolerate to some extent, the disci-
ples of sects coming from Germany as declared and
* Knight's Popular History of England, voL iv.
t Several English protestants at the present day consider that, in a
political and social point of view, the measures of Henry VIII., direct-
ed against the religious orders of his kingdom and the numerous con-
vents, were a great mistake socially and politically. A motion to this
effect was carried in the Cambridge Union Debating Society, after a
long discussion. [How much pauperism has been caused by indis-
criminate almsgiving ?] (Ed.)
320 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
inveterate foes to Catholicism. This dark and bloody
fanaticism at last turned against royal authority,
when it had arrogated to itself all the prerogatives
of the papacy with greater arbitrariness, as is always
the case with usurpers of every kind. The Estab-
lished Church and its head became an object of
aversion to the Presbyterians, the Independents, and
all those who were called Puritans. The measures
of violence put in force against the dissidents only
exasperated them and made them stronger. Respect
for the king was lost after respect for the pope.
Thus there came a day when the rage of the people
did not pause before the majesty of the throne.
Charles I., tried like a common criminal, was the
victim of the bills of attainder that had been so
cruelly used by his predecessors, and especially by
Henry VIII.
Therefore, but for the divorce of that king from
Anne Boleyn, a Stuart would not have laid his head
on the scaifold in expiation of the crimes of the
Tudors. The hatred and popular prejudice excited
by Henry against the religion of Catharine of
Aragon, were aroused with extraordinary vigour in
the reign of James II. This last of the Stuarts lost
his crown for attempting to restore Catholicism.
Torrents of blood again flowed in consequence of
the armed rising of the Pretender and after the
defeat of Culloden.
Scotland, and especially Ireland, were sorely per-
THE COLONIES. 321
eecuted by the English Government. Religious
liberty, or indeed toleration, have only been recov-
ered in these later days. Thus the disastrous effects
of Henry VIII.'s divorce were gradually obliterated,
but after centuries of efforts on the part of the
Catholics long treated as outcasts in political and
civil rank.
Externally the religious feelings of the mother
country were frequently repeated in the numerous
colonies founded by England in America and India.
One instance is Maryland, where Lord Baltimore, a
Catholic, landed with a large number of his servants
and friends, Catholics like him. The government of
this territory had been granted him, and he enacted
complete religious liberty. The Puritans and other
Protestants, by successive immigrations, became the
majority, and took advantage of it to deprive the
Catholics of all civil rights, and to recognise the
benefits they had received from their too kind hosts
by religious exclusiveness directed against them.
New England and Pennsylvania were already marked
by very rigorous preventive intolerance. This was
the melancholy system at first inaugurated on all
the coasts where an English vessel came ashore. The
Catholic religion gradually became not only tolerated,
but respected. In the East Indies, first the great
company, then the English Government, generally
recognized that the missionaries of the Koman
religion had more converting and civilizing power
VOL. II. Y
322 CATHARINE OF ARAGON.
than Protestant missionaries. But this justice to
our Catholic apostles has been very dilatory; the
prejudices born from the divorce and Anglican schism
have displayed great tenacity ; they have prevented
and still prevent unity of faith.
Who in London could have foreseen in 1533 that
the divorce was to be one of those blows whose
recoil is so far-reaching, according to Bossuet's
expression ?
We have now another subject for meditation to
draw from this history that seems to be a lesson to
the future of mercy and liberty of conscience. The
spectacle of a monarch, who trampled so cruelly
upon souls, and reproduced the phenomenon of a
modern Nero in the history of a Christian nation,
ought to put us on our guard against the return of a
dictatorship or imperial tyranny that it is perhaps
wrong to suppose impossible. This would be the
greatest scourge of God in modern times.
THE END.
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TALES OF OUR GREAT FAMILIES. Second
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6
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Historical View of the Peerage.
Parliamentary Eoll of the House of Lords.
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ILLUSTRATED BY SIR J. GILBERT, MILLAIS, HUNT, LEECH, FOSTER,
POYNTER, TENNIEL, SANDYS, HUGHES, SAMBOURNE, &C.
£ach in a Single Volnme, elegantly printed, bound, and illnstrated, prioe Ss.
1. SAM SLICK'S NATUEE AND HUMAN NATURE.
"The first volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett's Standard Library of Obeap Editions
forms a very good beginning to what will doubtless be a very successful undertaking.
'Nature and Human Nature' is one of the best of Sam Slick's witty and humorous
productions, and is well entitled to the large circulation which it cannot fail to obtain
in its present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines with the great recom-
mendations of a clear, bold type, and good paper, the lesser but attractive merits of
being well illustrated and elegantly bound." — Post.
2. JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.
"This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career
from boyhood to age of a perfect man — a Christian gentleman ; and it abounds in inci-
dent both well and highly wrought Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and
written with great ability. This cheap and handsome new edition is worthy to pass
freely from hand to hand as a gift book in many households." — Examiner.
3. THE CEESCENT AND THE CROSS.
BY ELIOT WAKBURTON.
" Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its nbefal and interesting
Information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with
which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is
its reverent and serious spirit" — Quarterly Reviere.
4. NATHALIE. By JULIA KAVANAGH.
" * Nathalie' is Miss Kavanagh's best imaginative effort Its manner is gracious and
attractive. Its matter is good." — At/mnxum.
5. A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
" A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well-
written, true-hearted, and altogether practical "Whoever wishes to give advice to a
yonng lady may thank the author for means of doing so." — Examiner.
6. ADAM GRAEME. By MRS. OLIPHANT.
"A Btory awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pic-
tores of Scottish life and scenery. The author sets before us the essential attributes of
Christian virtue, with a delicacy, power, and truth which can hardly be surpassed. "-Po**.
7. SAM SLICK'S WISE SAWS & MODERN INSTANCES.
"The reputation of this book will stand as long as that of Scott's or Bulwer s Novels.
Its remarkable originality and happy descriptions of American life still continue the
subject of universal admiration." — Messenger.
8. CARDINAL WISEMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS OP
THE LAST FOUR POPES.
" A picturesque book on Rome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an eloquent Roman
CathoUc. Cardinal Wiseman has treated a special subject with so much geniality, that
his recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most conscientiously opposed
to every idea of himian infallibility represented in Papal domination." — Athenteum.
9. A LIFE FOR A LIFE.
BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
"In 'A Life for a Life ' the author is fortunate in a good subject, and has produced a
work of strong effect" — Athensntm.
10. THE OLD COURT SUBURB. By LEIGH HUNT.
"A delightful book, that will be welcome to all readers, and most welcsme to those
who have a love for the best kinds of reading."— £xamin«r.
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HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY
39. THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM.
BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
" ' The Woman's EUngdom ' sustains the author's reputation aa a 'writer of the
purest and noblest kind of domestic stories. — Athmxum.
40. ANNALS OF AN EVENTFUL LIFE. ^
BY GEORGE WffiBBE DASENT, D.G.L.
"A racy, well-written, and original novel The interest never flags. The whole
work sparkles with vrit and humour." — Quarterly Review.
41. DAVID ELGINBROD. By GEORGE MAC DONALD.
" The work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of readers." — Times.
42. A BRAVE LADY. By the Author of "John Halifax."
"A very good novel; a thoughtful, well- written book, showing a tender, sympathy
with human nature, and permeated by a pure and noble spirit" — Examiner. '
43. HANNAH. By the Author of "John Halifax."
" A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a
wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty." — Standard.
44. SAM SLICK'S AMERICANS AT HOME.
' "This is one of the most amusing books that we ever read." — Standard.
45. THE UNKIND WORD.
BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
"The author of 'John Halifax 'has written many fascinating stories, but we can
call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than the graceful
sketches in this work." — United Service Magazine.
46. A ROSE IN JUNE. By MRS. OLIPHANT.
" ' A Eoae in June ' is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most
touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold its
own with even ' The Chronicles of Carlingtord.' " — Tim^.
47. MY LITTLE LADY. By E. F. POYNTER.
" There is a great deal of fascination about this book. The author writes in a clear,
unaffected style; she has a decided gift for depicting character, while the descriptions
of scenery convey a distinct pictorial impression to the reader." — Times.
48. PHOEBE, JUNIOR. By MRS. OLIPHANT.
"This novel shows great knowledge of human nature. The interest goes on
growing to the end. Phcebe is excellently drawn." — Times.
49. LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.
BY PROFESSOR CHARLES DUKE YONGE.
" A work of remarkable merit and interest, which will, we doubt not, become the
most popular English history of Marie Antoinette." — Spectator.
" This book is well written, and of thrilling interest" — Academy,
50. SIR GIBBIE. By GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D.
" ' Sir Gibbie ' is a book of genius." — Pall Mcdl Gazette.
"This book has power, pathos, and humour. There is not a character which is not
lifelike." — Atliemeum.
51. YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.
BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
" 'Young Mrs. Jardine ' is a pretty story, written in pure English." — The Times.
" There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome." — Athenaeum,
52. LORD BRACKENBURY. By AMELIA B. EDWARDS.
"A very readable story. The author has well conceived the purpose of high-class
novel-writing, and succeeded in no small measure in attaining it. 'There is plenty of
▼ariety, cheerful dialogue, and general 'verve' in the book" — Athenaeum.
" ' Lord Brackenbury ' is pleasant reading from beginning to ea±"— Academy.
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